NEW HAVEN, Conn. – After a weekend in which it broke 14 school records, including six on Sunday, and totaled 880.5 points, the Bentley University Falcons captured the 2017 Northeast-10 Conference Men's Swimming and Diving Championship, the second title in program history and first since 2010.
Coach Mary Kay Samko's team bested runner-up and host Southern Connecticut State by 68.5 points. Le Moyne College was a distant third with 629.5 and Pace University took fourth with 448.
Freshman Dan Sausto (Slingerlands, N.Y./Doane Stuart School) earned Bentley's only gold of the meet, held at Southern's Hutchinson Natatorium Thursday through Sunday, as he captured the championship's longest race, the 1650 yard freestyle on Sunday. His time of 16:08.64 shattered the school record, held by teammate Aidan Karam (Norwich, Conn./Norwich Free Academy) since 2015, by more than 26 seconds.
Also in the 1650, sophomore Ryan McGeary (Paramus, N.J./Bergen Catholic HS) was fourth, with his time of 16:28.24 also better than the previous school record, and senior Dennis Witol (Bowie, Md./Eleanor Roosevelt HS) was sixth (16:59.50).
Freshman Jarod Yoshihara (Tokyo, Japan) won silver in the 200 backstroke while breaking the school record in both the prelims (1:53.35) and the finals (1:52.01). The former mark of 1:53.55 was achieved by Tim Connolly last year. Also in the 200 back, junior Chris Vukas (Randolph, N.J./Randolph HS) was fifth (1:54.68).
Bentley's other day four silver came in the meet's final event, the 400 free relay. Vukas, McGeary, junior Jonny Boains (Unionville, Conn./Farmington HS) and senior Davis Wilson (Ransom Canyon, Texas/Lubbock HS) combined for a 3:05.96, breaking the school record of 3:07.52 last year. Wilson had also been involved in setting that mark.
Sophomore Frank Elenio (Ridgefield, N.J./Bergen County Academies) broke his third and fourth individual records of the weekend while taking third in the 200 butterfly. He posted a 1:52.58 in the prelims, an improvement of 0.47 on the standard he set last year, and came back with a 1:51.78 in the finals. Also in the 200 fly, freshman Matt Bandy (Manhattan, Kans./Manhattan HS) was seventh in 2:11.87.
The other Falcon to make a trip to the podium Sunday was senior Greg Coleman (Lake Ronkonkoma, N.Y./Sachem North HS) with a third in the three-meter diving (392.55). Classmate Nick Cilia (Brentwood, N.H./Exeter HS) followed in fourth (296.95) and freshman Alex Orr (Lincoln, Mass./ Lincoln-Sudbury Reg. HS) was seventh (201.40).
Bentley had three of the top eight in the 100 freestyle, including Wilson who was fifth (47.64). Boains was sixth (47.67) and senior Liam Bartlett (Syracuse, N.Y./William Nottingham HS) was eighth (48.02).
Bentley also received a sixth in the 200 breaststroke from freshman Sam Trozenski (Pittsburgh, Pa./Mt. Lebanon HS) with a time of 2:10.63.
All told, the Falcons collected 14 medals with one gold, six silver and seven bronze.
