LOWELL, Mass. – The championship season has arrived and the UMass Lowell track and field teams look take the next step in their growth and development, this weekend, at the America East Indoor Track and Field Championships at the Ocean Breeze Track and Field Athletic Complex on Staten Island in New York City.

The nine-team championships take place Friday and Saturday. Preliminaries and some finals are scheduled for Friday. All of Saturday's events will be finals. In recent years the University of Albany has been the dominant team. The men are the ten time defending champions, the women have won three straight tiles.

For UMass Lowell, the goals may be a bit more modest.

"The kids have to learn to compete for the team," said UMass Lowell Head Coach Gary Gardner. "So much of what we do during the year is about chasing personal bests and individual accomplishments. Now we ask them to put aside personal goals and compete for the team and there isn't a single person who won't do that."

A year ago UMass men finished sixth in the nine team field, the women finished seventh. The coaching staff is looking to see growth and improvement, hoping to see the teams take the next step in their development.

"We wanted to be more competitive and if you go through the events we have at least one person, in every single event, who can score points," said Gardner. "We're almost there, but we still have some growing to do."

This weekend is different because more than at any time this season where an athlete places is what counts.

"Usually our goals are performance based; a time or a distance, but now all of our goals are place based," said Gardner. "It's a different mindset for the coaching staff and the athletes. We want to get as many kids as possible into the finals."

Regardless of what lies ahead the coach is quick to note the indoor season has already shown terrific growth from two very young teams.

"We've had an unbelievable year so far," said Gardner. "We've set more school records this year than in the last three combined. The way the kids have competed week in and week out throughout the season has been great. We've taken many steps forward in the last year."