04/28/2026
District spotlight: Finding her stride over barriers and water, Erin LaQuatra rises at Robert Morris
The former Bishop Canevin standout has turned adversity
and athletic versatility into success in the grueling 3,000-
meter steeplechase
PITTSBURGH POST-GAZETTE - APR 22, 2026 8:42 AM
The event is not for the faint of heart.
Combining 7½ laps around a track with 35 jumps over fixed-barrier hurdles, including seven leaps of seemingly blind faith over a 12-foot pit filled with 12 inches of water at its deepest point, the 3,000-meter Steeplechase stands out among the more traditional events at an NCAA
Division I track and field meet.
“It’s a little strange; you could call it strange,” said Juris Silenieks, an assistant on Robert Morris women’s track and field coach Bryan Delsite’s staff specializing in distance runners. “I always wonder what the origin of it was when they created it. It’s like, yeah, we are going to have you jump over these four barriers a lap, and then we’re going to throw a water pit in, too.
There’s no other event with water. So, no, you can call it strange.”
The Colonials track and field team, though, just may have the perfect woman for that task.
A dual-sport athlete at Bishop Canevin before graduating from the small East Carnegie Catholic school in 2022, Erin LaQuatra took a somewhat unconventional path to Robert Morris. The Scott Township native was a PIAA championship meet qualifier in cross country and also competed in track and field distance and hurdling events, but was perhaps best known for winning multiple WPIAL Class 1A championships as a libero on the Crusaders girls volleyball team.
With all of that experience in tow, LaQuatra now holds the Robert Morris record in the 3,000-meter steeplechase. The senior ran 10:43.58 on April 11 to place fifth at Bucknell’s Bison Outdoor Classic and eclipse her previous school record of 10:56.88, which she set at the 2025 Horizon League Outdoor Championship meet.
District spotlight: Finding her stride over barriers and water, Erin LaQuatra rises at Robert Morris | Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
https://www.post-gazette.com/sports/rmu/2026/04/22/district-spotlight-erin-laquatra-robert-morris-steeplechase/stories/20260422004
“You have to have a certain level of athleticism,” said Silenieks, a North Hills graduate who was a member of the Syracuse men’s cross country team that won an NCAA championship in 2015 before qualifying for the 2020 U.S. Olympic Trials in the marathon. “I think her jumping from volleyball — it sounds simple— but literally just being used to jumping and landing
like that makes a really big difference.
“Generally speaking, the people who have been really successful at the steeple that I’ve been around,” he added, “they have a multi-sport background.”
LaQuatra most recently ran 10:47.33 to finish ninth in last weekend’s Virginia Challenge, which was hosted by the University of Virginia in Charlottesville. She will return home to the P3R Track and Field Complex on Neville Island for this weekend’s Benson Hodge Memorial Invitational
as one final tune-up before competing at the Horizon League Outdoor Championships, hosted by Oakland University in Rochester, Mich., beginning May 8.
“I never really thought that I would grow this much as a runner,” LaQuatra said. “It’s definitely exciting because I never thought I would be in the position to be top 3 in the conference.”
While she entered her collegiate career without as much high-level experience in track as many of her teammates and competition, LaQuatra said she was initially attracted to running the 3,000-meter steeplechase event because she could lean on her multi-sport background to succeed.
She said the jumping ability and athleticism she developed playing volleyball acts as a sort of super power when dealing with the barriers and water pit, which make the steeplechase such a unique event.
The mental aspect of running the steeplechase was also initially attractive and keeps her engaged in competing in the event at a high level, LaQuatra said.
“I wasn’t all that experienced with all that goes into running; your diet, the heavy training like a lot of other high schoolers probably had at that level,”
LaQuatra said. “I wasn’t very educated on all the tiny things that go into running.
“I had somewhat of an idea of how to hurdle,” she added. “I definitely think a lot of the steeplers in college are typically people that did other sports in high school. I definitely think that helped me out.”
The success she has been able to achieve also grew out of hardship. LaQuatra set personal records in three events as a freshman in 2023 with a 10:52.10 in the 3,000-meter run, an 11:57.95 in the 3,000-meter steeplechase and a 12:23.85 in the distance medley relay.
“She was starting to believe, oh, wow, I can do something here that I didn’t think was possible,” Silenieks said. “We were really building up from the ground as a freshman.”
Then, LaQuatra said, things started to go awry when she began having unexplained health issues the following season.
“I had low iron, so I literally just felt exhausted all day, and not runningwise,” she said. “Every day I would get back from class and be so tired all the time. It was just no energy; I would literally sleep for 12 hours and still be tired. It was very hard running-wise on my body and everything. It definitely was a big slump for me.”
District spotlight: Finding her stride over barriers and water, Erin LaQuatra rises at Robert Morris | Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
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LaQuatra said she worked with her doctors and coaches to get her iron levels regulated through the use of supplements while also adjusting her training regimen.
“It honestly takes a while for that to kind of kick in,” she said. “By the time my junior year came around, I started feeling better and just kind of went up from there.”
Silenieks said LaQuatra is better for overcoming such adversity.
“It’s been especially rewarding because it hasn’t been a linear path for her,” he said. “She had a really, really rough sophomore year, and a lot of people would’ve potentially checked out and moved on and not figured it out.”
Now, the sky may just be the limit.
“It’s been a long way, I think partially because of the history of where she comes from with a small program,” Silenieks said.
“She’s really coming into her own and really racing really confidently right now. It’s exciting to see.”
LaQuatra said she is definitely a contender to compete for a Horizon League title in the 3,000-meter steeplechase, which would put her close to qualifying for a spot in the NCAA championship meet. The top 48 times in the NCAA’s East and West regions qualify for a spot in the national championship meet.
“She is 67th right now,” Silenieks said. “The 48th time is 10:35.00. After scratches for injuries and to run other events, an athlete usually needs to make it to about 55th on that list.”
While getting a chance to compete for a national championship is a major goal, LaQuatra said she isn’t ready to focus on that just yet. “I definitely think I’m in a good position to get top 3 at conference,” she said. “My coach and I really think that we can win it. I think trusting your training and your coach and everything helps there, too.
“I’m just trying to take it one step at a time.”
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