The Virginia girls will look to improve upon only sending one representative last year to San Diego with Foot Locker South champion and Foot Locker National runner-up Aurora Scott (pictured right by Arne Johnson), but that is not even a guarantee with the great female runners within the South region as well as the uncertainty of what kind of shape the returning Foot Locker South champion is in. With six returning Foot Locker National finalists as well as some national caliber runners back who failed to make it in the top 10 last year with the likes of Nike Indoor Nationals 2 mile champion Ashley Brasovan from Florida, the seeded race will be ultra competitive.
It is hard to bet against the returning Foot Locker South champion as well as course record holder as Aurora Scott's 16:26 5K performance last November at McAlpine Greenway was arguably one of the greatest high school cross country female performances ever breaking the record held by former Virginian prep great and two-time Foot Locker Nationals champ Erin Keogh of Langley. However, the lack of an eye popping performance from Scott this fall coming in has had some doubting if she is close to her Foot Locker Nationals contending shape from a year ago.
Aurora Scott is not one though to need race performances to have confidence in herself as she has more faith in her ability based of her workouts, which many of her races she has treated as such. With her homeschool status, she cannot compete in any high school sanctioned races and with the new NCAA rules regarding high school athletes competing in meets with college athletes, the competing colleges would be in violation of NCAA rules if she competed unattached in the college races. Thus, Scott's name has rarely appeared in results this fall, but she has been out there on the roads and courses tuning up for this weekend. Scott on two occassions at the NC State hosted adidas Wolfpack Invite and Hagan Stone Classic doubled up and ended up race banditing two races in the same meet with low 18 minute performances in both.
Last year, Scott had several performances coming into Charlotte which indicated she was on the verge of having a special finish to the cross country season. Scott had ran a 1:18 half marathon last September and a 16:35 road 5K in the week leading up to Foot Locker South. Her times this season have still been some of the state's fastest at 5K with a season best of 18:04 in one of her two races at Hagan Stone. In that October 6th race in Greensboro, Scott came back from winning the college race to bandit the high school race and finished well ahead of the official winner Amanda Lineberry of Lee-Davis (18:54), but had to pull off to the side right before the finish. Lineberry ended the season as a Virginia 3A All-State finisher in cross country.
Being able to run back to back 18 minute 5K's for a broken up 36 to 37 minute 10K indicates Scott is fit enough to be breaking 17 minutes for 5K when at an all-out effort. She will need to be on her "A" game this weekend with a loaded field of some of the nation's very best. Two national champions are in the race with returning Foot Locker Nationals champion Kathy Kroeger and Nike Indoor Nationals 2 mile champion Ashley Brasovan.
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Virginia had only one female qualifier last year with Aurora Scott and hope to change that this year with some extra company joining Scott at Balboa Park for Foot Locker Nationals. The two best bets outside of Scott to finish in the top ten will be the top two finishers from the AAA state race two weeks ago in Kathleen Lautzenheiser of Midlothian and Lia DiValentin of Chantilly.
Lautzenheiser (pictured left by John Herzog) was not originally expected to compete in Charlotte even after her impressive 17:56 victory at the state meet as the day's fastest. With also being on one of the top teams in the Southeast region with the three-time AAA state champion Midlothian girls, it was assumed that Lautzenheiser would be joining the rest of the team down in Hoover, Alabama for the Nike Team Nationals Southeast Regional. Unfortunately, injuries have plagued the Midlothian girls this fall and made them end up deciding to bypass attending the first NTN regionals. However, it ended up working out well for Lautzenheiser individually in giving her the opportunity then to compete at Foot Locker South this weekend and see if she can meet the grade of finishing in the top ten.
Her time at Great Meadow certainly indicated she has a decent shot by breaking 18 minutes and finishing only 8 seconds off the fastest time ever in a Great Meadow state meet by Northside's Catherine White in 2005 at 17:48. White went onto qualify for Foot Locker Nationals that season and earn All-American honors in San Diego with a 11th place finish. White also dropped her time considerably from Great Meadow to McAlpine with a personal best run of 17:19. If Lautzenheiser and DiValentin can make similar drops on Saturday, they certainly will be knocking on the door of top ten.
Lia DiValentin was so close to being a state champion herself as she finished only two seconds behind Lautzenheiser in their state race, so finishing ahead of Lautzeheiser and making it onto San Diego would quickly erase the memory of coming up just short in state title glory. DiValentin last week ran a 11:05 3200 meter time at the Charger Open held at Chantilly High School, which was four seconds faster than what Sarrah Hadiji ran last year in the same race as Hadiji went onto a top 15 finish in Charlotte. Top 15 finishes from AAA's best two in Lautzenheiser and DiValentin seem to be their projected finishes coming in, but both will be racing for top 10 finishes.
Photo by Ted Plunkett
If DiValentin were to qualify, it would be the second finalist for Coach Matt Gilchrist at Chantilly as he coached Brad Siragusa to a Foot Locker Nationals berth in 2005. Meanwhile, Midlothian coach Stan Morgan has yet to have an individual finalist despite his many state champions teams that he has produced. Coach Morgan not only has a chance of getting his first finalist this Saturday, but possibly having a pair qualify with Jason Witt and Kathleen Lautzenheiser.
Photo by Brandon Miles
Top 24 finishers in the seeded races earn All-South honors and a handful of Virginian girls are capable of finishing among the top tier runners in the South Region. Private school's best in Megan Fitzpatrick of Bishop O'Connell and Barbara Strehler of Trinity both dipped well under 19 minutes on one of Virginia's toughest courses at Woodberry Forest for the Virginia Independent Schools State Championships. In the Division I race at Woodberry Forest, the two exchanged leads on several occassions in the last half mile with Fitzpatrick making the final move for the win with both being timed at 18:46. A minute drop for both and running into the 17 minute range is very likely given how fast McAlpine runs as well as based off their Woodberry Forest performances.
Photo by Ted Plunkett
Both Octavia Rinehardt of Tallwood and Ariel Karabinus of Osbourn Park were both right with with Lautzenheiser and DiValentin with less than half a mile to go in the AAA state race. The two regional cross country champions can be a big help to the Team Virginia girls in the state team scoring. Virginia could have a handful under 18 minutes as Rinehardt at 18:05 and Karabinus at 18:11 were not far off the time at the state meet. This weekend could see the most Virginian girls under 18 minutes for 5K in the same race in quite some time with the talent present.
Photo by Ted Plunkett
Another speedster who is capable of posting a fast time at McAlpine is Group AA state champion Laura Rapp of Heritage. Rapp clocked in at 18:14 with her state win and should benefit from the cross country speedway that is McAlpine with personal bests of 4:55 for 1600 and 2:12 for 800 meters on the track. She ran 18:37 at Foot Locker last year.
Top 15 Predictions by Brandon Miles
1. Aurora Scott VA - Interesting how other "experts" feel shaky on picking the defending champ over others who have had arguably shakier past circumstances as to why it would be tough to win. Brasovan has failed to qualify for two straight years when being heavily favored to place high, while Kroeger had to take a break from running during track for health reasons and was also setback in the summer with a stress fracture. Both are great runners, but why is Scott the only one being doubted of what she is capable of this weekend? If anything, she is the last one that anyone should bet against. Her consistency in improvement and performance at Foot Locker is rock solid. Scott has steadily improved every year at Foot Locker South and Foot Locker Nationals. She will be qualifying for a fourth straight FLN this weekend in Charlotte and prove once again that you do not have to go through the traditional methods to become one of the best. Being homeschooled already makes her different from the others and the fact that she has a limited racing schedule leading into the final races of the season will play to her advantage over the challengers. The doubters will be silenced again this weekend by Miss Scott.
2. Kathy Kroeger TN
3. Ashley Brasovan FL
4. Emily Reese GA
5. Emelie Amaro FL
6. Cory McGee MS
7. Kayla Hale FL
8. Lauren Smith TX
9. Kathleen Lautzenheiser VA - Lautzenheiser has been racing at a high level all season long and should be ready to her establish herself as an individual star instead of just a member of the Midlothian army of talented girls. She did not race at Foot Locker South last year as a freshmen, but her experience in national races such as Nike Team Nationals, Manhattan, as well as a win at Maymont should give her a great deal of confidence in believing she can run with pack destined for San Diego.
10. Tara Upshaw TX
11. Lia DiValentin VA -Picking three from Virginia in the top 10 seems to be too greedy, but DiValentin ran step for step with Lautzenheiser at the state meet and could do the same at McAlpine with both finishing in the top 10. Breaking 18 minutes at Great Meadow indicates that she is ready to run under 17:30 for sure this weekend. If she can make another jump and push closer for a time to 17:10, she could finish in the top 10 comfortably. Coach Gilchrist will have her ready for a top 10 run as he helped Brad Siragusa make an improbable run to San Diego in 2005.
12. Jennifer Dunn AL
13. Adrianne Soo NC
14. Virginia Hine TN
15. Octavia Rinehardt VA - Rinehardt hung tough with Lautzenheiser and DiValentin until the final stretch. If she can run with those girls as long as she did at the state meet this weekend, she should be able to easily garner All-South honors (top 24) finish and possibly break into the top 15 finishing among and ahead of state champions from the South region.