BOSTON, Mass. – After an injury-riddled 2010-11 season, Bentley University senior Mike Vatti (Easton, Pa./Easton HS) turned in a strong performance Saturday as the Falcons opened their men's indoor track season at the Northeastern University-hosted Jay Carisella Invitational at the Reggie Lewis Center.

Vatti set a new personal best in the 500 meters with his time of 1:05.97 good for a tie for fifth in a field of 29.  He also was sixth of 87 in the 200, posting a time of 23.06 seconds.

Senior Dan Fava (Malden/Malden Catholic HS) had Bentley's highest finish in the meet as he was fourth of 23 in the 1,000 meters, finishing in 2:34.04. He was also part of the Falcons' 4x400 relay team that was eighth of 21 in 3:30.83. That quartet also included junior Bryan Carton (Norwell/Norwell HS), senior Andrew Foley (South Windsor, Conn./South Windsor HS) and freshman Mark Nelson (Ft. Lauderdale, Fla./Pine Crest School).

Bentley had four of the top 12 finishers in the 3,000 meters with junior Sean Maguire (Essex, Vt./Essex HS) leading the way for the Falcons. He was seventh amongst the 52 runners, his time of 8:53.08 an indoor personal best. Sophomore Conor Higgins (Randolph, N.J./Randolph HS) followed in eighth (8:53.84), junior Craig Robinson (Scarborough, Maine/Scarborough HS) was ninth (8:58.66) and senior Tom Witherell (Los Alamos, N.M./Los Alamos HS) set a PR of 9:05.83 while finishing 12th.

Coach Kevin Curtin was also happy with the collegiate debut of freshman Steven Maffiolini (Southington, Conn./Southington HS). He ran the 400 in 53.38 seconds, placing 17th of 45, and the 200 in 24.15.

In the field events, senior captain Steven Long (Newton/Newton North HS) was 11th of 39 in the shot put with a throw of 43 feet, 5 inches, and freshman Anthony Charter (Hubbardston/Quabbin Reg. HS) cleared 20 feet, one-half inch in the long jump, placing 14th of 34 in the event.

Next week, Bentley will run in the Reggie Poyau meet at Brandeis.