Defending Foot Locker South champion and returning Foot Locker Nationals runner-up Aurora Scott started off her fall cross country season on the road back to San Diego and a national title run at Virginia Wesleyan College's Marlin Invitational on Saturday in Virginia Beach. Scott bested the collegiate runners by nearly a full minute with her winning time of 18:16. In past years, Scott has ran some of her early season races unattached against collegiate competition as she did in 2005 at Great American and the Norfolk State Invitational then in 2006 at UVA's Lou Onesty Invitational.
However, her chances to compete in such meets are limited now due to a NCAA rule created back in last December which went in affect on March 26th. The rule prevents NCAA Division I athletes competing head-to-head against high school runners. If a meet is strictly Division II and III athletes then a high school athlete would be able to compete unattached. The Marlin Invitational comes into a gray area since the majority of the schools present and host school in Virginia Wesleyan College were Division III, but one Division I school did compete in Norfolk State. It appears to be a violation of Bylaw 13.11, but such violations do not affect a prospective student-athlete's eligibility and are considered instituational violations per Constitution 2.8.1.
While Scott was fortunate to find a collegiate meet willing to allow her to compete, her racing opportunities will be far and few until Foot Locker South in November if she remains homeschooled since she cannot compete in any sanctioned high school events nor college events with Division I schools. One path and wise move she could take is competing in high school meets which offer an open 5K race division such as the Maymont Festival on September 28th and 29th. At Maymont, she could compare her time in Friday's open 5K race to the top runners in the high school races on Saturday. Open races at high school meets, which are essentially like road races, are found in several other invitationals in Virginia such as Knights Crossing Invite on September 15th and Runnin' With The Wolves Invite on October 13th which offer an open race. At last year's Runnin' With The Wolves Invite, Catherine White of Northside bypassed the high school divisions to compete in the open race and had her former male teammate Zac Edwards pace her to a course record time of 18:24.