NEW HAVEN, Conn. – Bentley University junior Sarah Brennan (Quincy, Mass./Notre Dame Academy) posted the highest finish achieved by a Falcon student-athlete on Saturday when she ran to second place in the 5,000 meters during the second and final day of the Northeast-10 Conference Men's and Women's Track and Field Championships at Southern Connecticut State University.

Brennan, who earned second-team All-Northeast-10 honors with her performance, finished in 17:58.57, becoming just the fourth woman in program history to break 18 minutes in the event. She improved on her previous best by just over 15 seconds while trailing only American International's Pascaline Jerotich (17:58.57).

Also in the 5,000, sophomore Katie Burke (Braintree, Mass./Braintree HS) placed tenth in a field of 35 with her time of 18:38.82 a new PR and good for ninth on Bentley's all-time list.

On the men's side, Bentley's highest finish of day two was achieved by senior Steve Maffiolini (Southington, Conn./Southington HS) as he was fourth of 23 in the 400 meters. He improved on his PR by 0.44 seconds with his 49.40 sixth best in school history.

Freshman Beau Kraft (Bayport, N.Y./Bayport-Blue Point HS) threw the discus 136'4" to finish fifth among 21 competitors in the event. He was also Bentley's top finisher in the shot put with his throw of 44'10.75" a PR by six inches.

Junior Samantha Albanese (Lynnfield, Mass./Lynnfield HS) placed third in the 3,000-meter steeplechase (12:01.29) and Bentley also had a pair of seventh-place finishes.  Those were achieved by senior Brynnan Farrington (Shirley, Mass./Ayer HS) in the shot (38'9") and junior Connor Hichens (Sharon, Mass./Sharon HS) in the triple jump (44'1.5").

In the team standings, the Bentley women were ninth among 11 squads with 19 points and the Falcon men placed 10th of 11 with 33. The host institution claimed both titles, the women edging Stonehill College by 2.5 points and the men by 48 over American International College.

Next Friday and Saturday, selected members of the team will be at MIT for the New England Intercollegiate Championships.