Moon Township, Pa. - The Robert Morris University women's outdoor track & field team continued its 2011 campaign Saturday afternoon at the VCU Invitational in Richmond, Va.

The meet was shortened and an official team winner was unable to be declared due to lightning, which forced the cancellation of the javelin, pole vault, the men's discus and triple jump and the 4x400 and 4x800-meter relays. 

Freshman Merel Van Steenbergen (Boskoop, Netherlands / Coenecopp College Waddinxveen) highlighted the meet for the Colonials by finishing third in the 1,500-meter run with a time of 4:45.87. Van Steenbergen trailed only Alli Mannon of Richmond, who won the event by crossing the finish line in 4:41.60, and Lindsay Prettyman of Delaware, who finished second at 4:45.10.

In other distance events, junior Debra Ostrander (Denton, Md. / North Caroline) finished second in the 3,000-meter steeplechase with a time of 11:48.34, while junior Ashley Slifko (Carnegie, Pa. / Chartiers Valley) posted a time of 19:10.29 to finish fourth in the 5,000-meter.

Junior Hillary Monger (Reading, Pa. / Holy Name) earned silver in the 400-meter hurdles and bronze in the 100-meter hurdles. She posted a time of 1:04.56 to finish second behind Kayla Hennessy of Delaware in the 400-meter hurdles, while her time of 14.80 in the 100-meter hurdles is a season best.

In the throws, freshman Rachel Kotula (East Berlin, Pa. / Bermudian Springs) finished fifth in the discus and sixth in the hammer throw. She posted a season-high mark of 42.05 meters (137'11") in the hammer throw and finished with a final tally of 36.14 meters (118'07") in the discus.

Junior Lakeshia McCloud (Bath, N.Y. / Haverling) finished second in the triple jump thanks to a leap of 11.19 meters (36'8.50") against strong winds, while freshman Yulia Vasilyeva (Leningrad, Russia) finished third in the high jump at 1.60 meters (5'3").

RMU returns to the state of Virginia for its next meet, taking part in the James Madison Invitational Friday, April 22, and Saturday, April 23.