BOSTON, Mass. – For the second straight year, a member of the Bentley University men's track and field team opened the season by taking first place in the 3,000 meters during the UMass-Boston Indoor Open at the Reggie Lewis Center.

On Saturday, it was junior Dan Hergott (Wallingford, Conn./Xavier HS) who broke the tape as the 2016 runner-up finished in 8:52.26. He prevailed by 4.34 seconds and improved on his own previous best by three-hundredths of a second.

Sophomore Ben Edwards (Morristown, N.J./Morristown HS), the 2016 champion, took third this time around, finishing in 9:06.90, and junior Nicholas Accardi (Seekonk/ Seekonk HS) was seventh. He set a new PR by 12.7 seconds with a 9:24.59.

Bentley had a pair of second-place showings in the meet, senior Seamus Higgins (Randolph, N.J./Randolph HS) in the 5,000 (15:15.95) and classmate Nick Skarin (Sunapee, N.H./Sunapee HS) in the 800 (1:57.93).

Sophomore Alex Arnold (Saco, Maine/Thornton Academy) had a solid showing in the season-opener. He was fourth of 52 in the long jump (21'0.5"), sixth of 136 in the 200 (22.96) and 12th of 121 in the 60 (7.23) with all those performances new personal bests.

Senior David Hernandez (Tokyo, Japan) was third in the long jump, clearing 21'2.75", and also tied for tenth in the high jump (5'8.75").

Fifth-place finishes were turned in by junior Cody Murphy (Dunbarton, N.H./  Goffstown HS) in the 5,000 (15:30.14), senior Beau Kraft (Bayport, N.Y./Bayport Blue Point HS) in the shot (44'9.75") and the 4x400 relay team of freshman Tristan Cronin (Harvard/Bromfield HS), junior Anthony Giesing (Bradford, Vt./Oxbow HS), senior Ben Brayton (Middleboro/Middleboro HS) and sophomore Robert Moritz (Singapore).

The Falcons also saw freshman Antonio Catino (North Reading/North Reading HS) finish seventh of 34 in the 60 hurdles (7.99).

Following an extended break for exams and holidays, Bentley will return to action Jan. 13 with the Reggie Poyau Memorial at Brandeis.