WORCESTER, Mass. – Both the Bentley University men's and women's swimming and diving teams finished day 1 of the Gompei Invitational at Worcester Polytechnic Institute in fifth place Friday night.

The women's team finished with 579 points, trailing number four Roger Williams by just ten, and the men's team, with 410, was only six back of fourth-place Roger Williams. There are 11 men's teams and a dozen women's competing in the three-day meet.

The top performer for the Falcons was senior Emily Niemiec (Meriden, Conn./Francis T. Maloney HS), who took second in the 200 yard breaststroke and fourth, right behind teammate Kate Kaduboski (Dedham/ Dedham HS), in the 200 individual medley.

In the former event, Niemiec finished in 2:24.70 and trailed only Katie Prescott of Stevens Institute of Technology, who reached the wall in 2:23.86.

Kaduboski (2:09.51) and Niemiec (2:09.74) were the top non-Division I swimmers in the 200 IM with the Bentley duo trailing only two swimmers from Bryant University. Kaduboski had been the top qualifier during the prelims, finishing in 2:10.43. Their times were the top posted in the Northeast-10 Conference so far this season.

Both also helped Bentley to top-eight finishes in a pair of relays. They combined with sophomore Paige MacNeil (Branford, Conn./Branford HS) and junior Lea Guldemond (West Newbury/Central Catholic HS) to tie for sixth in the 200 medley relay (1:50.07), and with MacNeil and junior Brooke Jameson (Bedford/Bedford HS) for eighth in the 800 free relay (8:00.22).

Bentley also received top 10 performances from junior Melissa Viator (Lubbock, Texas/Lubbock HS) in the 1650 free (7th, 17:48.49) and MacNeil in the 100 butterfly (10th, 59.79).

Six was the magic number for the men's team with senior Jonny Boains (Unionville, Conn./Farmington HS) and junior Ryan McGeary (Paramus, N.J./Bergen Catholic HS) both earning sixth-place finishes. Boains swam the 200 IM in 1:59.94, becoming the first NE10 swimmer to break two minutes this season, and McGeary finished the 200 breast in 2:12.32.

In addition, they combined with freshman Clayton Bennice (Ballston Spa, N.Y./Ballston Spa HS) and sophomore Jarod Yoshihara (Irvine, Calif./University HS) to finish sixth in the 800 free relay (an NE10 season-best 7:10.44).

The meet will resume Saturday morning at 10 am.