Moon Township, Pa. - Behind a pair of top 20 individual performances, the Robert Morris University women's cross country team opened its 2011 season with a sixth place showing at the Monmouth Invite on Saturday.

The Colonials recorded a 167 point team total while Quinnipiac took the team title with 43 team points.

In their first collegiate competitions, freshman Michelle Schiewe (Swidnica, Poland / Czestochowska Second Liceum) paced Robert Morris with a 12th-place finish (19:10.7) while fellow newcomer Marissa Polk (Pittsburgh, Pa. / Oakland Catholic) placed 23rd with a time of 19:28.2.

Junior Kristie Domis (Pittsburgh, Pa. / Baldwin) finished 46th overall with a time of 20:12.6 while senior Deb Ostrander (Denton, Md. / North Caroline) and freshman Alexandra Zielinski (Buffalo, N.Y. / West Seneca East) rounded out the RMU scoring contingency. Ostrander finished 57th with a time of 20:28.1 while Zielinski was right behind her teammate in 60th place with a time of 20:34.2.

Sophomore Lindsay Erath (Aliquippa, Pa. / Hopewell) finished one spot back from Zielinski in 20:37.3 while freshman Brianna Iannarelli (McDonald, Pa. / Canon-MacMillan) finished 66th with a time of 20:50.1.

Freshman Trisha Brandt (Butler, Pa. / Butler), senior Ashley Slifko (Carnegie, Pa. / Chartiers Valley), sophomore Michele Kozubal (Meadville, Pa. / Saegertown) and freshman Alexis Ebersole (Altoona, Pa. / Altoona) rounded out Robert Morris' competitors on Saturday.

Brandt placed 84th with a time of 21:19.8, Slifko crossed the line at 21:34.9 for 90th place, Kozubal followed three spots later in 93rd with a time of 21:34.9 and Ebersole placed 106th in 21:59.7.

East Stroudsburg's Rosie Mascoli took individual honors with a time of 18:12.1.

Robert Morris continues the 2011 season this Saturday at the Ohio Invitational in Athens, Ohio.