WORCESTER, Mass. – The Bentley University Falcons had a strong opening night performance Thursday night during the Northeast-10 Conference Swimming and Diving Championships with three gold medals in four events at WPI's Sport and Recreation Center.

Both Bentley teams captured the 800 yard free relay and senior Dan Sausto (Slingerlands, N.Y./ The Doane Stuart School) repeated as 1,000 free champion.

The women made it a five-peat as 800 free champs, edging Southern Connecticut State by 0.67 seconds with a time of 7:38.24. Sophomore Lucy Slowe (Millis/Millis HS) led off and was followed by senior Paige MacNeil (Branford, Conn./Branford HS) and a pair of freshmen, Kathryn Galvin (Suffern, N.Y./Suffern HS) and Dariana Gonzales (Stamford, Conn./Westhill HS).

The men's team had an easier time while repeating at 800 free relay champs, winning by 16.7 seconds over Southern Connecticut with a time of 6:52.33. A member of every class was represented with sophomore Mark Zoda (Nashua, N.H./Bishop Guertin HS) swimming the anchor leg. Freshman Anthony Vizental (Concord, Calif./Clayton Valley HS) led off and the quartet also included senior Jarod Yoshihara (Irvine, Calif./University HS) and junior Clayton Bennice (Ballston Spa, N.Y./Ballston Spa HS).

Bentley had three of the top five finishers in the men's 1,000 free with Sausto's 9:36.44 producing his fourth career gold medal. Freshman Michael Motisi (Ellington, Conn./Ellington HS) earned the bronze (9:42.22) and junior Tanner Fales (Naples, Fla./Gulf Coast HS) finished fifth in 10:03.43.

On the women's side, Slowe and classmate Emily Sweet (Nashua, N.H./Nashua North HS) were fifth and sixth, respectively, in the 1000 free. Slowe turned in a 10:39.98 and Sweet followed in 10:43.93.

Also contested Thursday night were the prelims of the women's three meter diving. Bentley had three of the top five with senior Caroline Logozzo (Wethersfield, Conn./Wethersfield HS) the top qualifier with a 370.35.

The defending champion men's team finished the day in first place with 96 points, 25 more than Southern Connecticut. The order was reversed in the women's standings with the Owls leading the Falcons, 106-90.

The four-day meet will continue on Friday with prelims at 10:15 am and finals at 6 pm.