WALTHAM, Mass. – Bentley University freshman Dan Sausto (Slingerlands, N.Y./The Doane Stuart School) has been named the Men's Swimming Rookie of the Year in the Northeast-10 Conference and his coach, Mary Kay Samko, was selected as the Men's Swimming Coach of the Year in the conference.

Sausto's rookie season featured him capturing the Northeast-10 championship in the 1650 yard freestyle with his time of 16:08.64 breaking the school record by nearly 20 seconds. In the process, he also took possession of the Bentley record in the 1000, lowering it more than five seconds to 9:44.28.

At the NE10's, Sausto also finished second in the 400 individual medley, posting  a school record time of 4:04.77, and was seventh in the 500 free (4:42.85).

Sausto won eight races during the course of the season and collected a pair of NE10 Rookie of the Week awards.

Samko, who recently completed her 21st season as Bentley's men's and women's swimming coach, led the Falcon men's team to the Northeast-10 championship and their first-ever undefeated dual season, 11-0.

The NE10 title was the second in program history and first since 2010. The Falcons won the four-day meet with 880.5 points, 68.5 more than runner-up Southern Connecticut State.

Samko, previously the NE10 Men's Swimming Coach of the Year in 2010, owns a career dual record of 469-198, including 376-138 during her tenure at Bentley.