Aurora Scott

Video interview by Brandon Miles with Aurora Scott as the homeschooled junior finished 10 seconds off the high school national indoor record with a 16:53.55 national title win at Nike Indoor Nationals.

 Photos by John HerzogThe Nike Indoor Nationals introduced the 5,000 meter run to the meet's lineup for the 2007 meet and the state of Virginia welcomed it with open arms as homeschooled junior Aurora Scott won the girls race in 16:53.55, while Midlothian junior Jason Witt won the boys in 15:05.29. Virginia went 1-3 in the boys race with Mountain View sophomore Thomas Porter also picking up All-American honors in third place at 15:12.82. Porter finished two seconds off the sophomore class national record.

Early reports from Boulder have homeschooled junior Aurora Scott qualifying for the World Cross Country Championships with a fourth place effort of 22:06 in the junior women's 6K race. The top six qualifiers in the race earn spots on the US Junior team that will be representing the country in Kenya next month. 2006 Footlocker National champ Jordan Hasay of California won the race in 21:42 as Scott was the second finishing high schooler in the race. Abingdon junior Griff Graves finished ninth in the junior men's 8K race. More to come from Boulder...

Griff Graves and Aurora Scott represented Virginia in December at Footlocker Nationals in San Diego. This Saturday in Boulder, Colorado, both Graves and Scott will be looking to earn the right to represent the United States and finish in the top six in the junior races at the USA Cross Country Championships. Both will be facing tough fields including high school and collegiate competition. The top six finishers in each race to qualify for the World Cross Country Championships, which will be hosted on March 4th in Mombasa, Kenya.

Audio interviews by Brandon Miles from the 2007 Asics Invitational with Blacksburg\'s Peter Dorrell, Bethel\'s Shakia Forbes, and homeschooled Aurora Scott.

Lap by lap photo breakdown with splits of Aurora Scott\'s US #1 10:29.12 3200 meter performance at the Asics Invitational held at Liberty University\'s Tolsma Track Center in Lynhburg, Virginia on Saturday, January 20th. Second place finisher Courtlin LaReau of Deep Run also posted a US #3 time of 10:45.86 in her debut at 3200 meters. Audio interview with Scott and video of the race to come soon!

This weekend\'s Asics Invitational will be hosted at Liberty University\'s Tolsma Track Center in Lynchburg and will be hosted over two days on Friday and Saturday. The meet will feature four individual state leaders including the likes of Bethel\'s Shakia Forbes and Harrisonburg\'s Tim Beierle as well as the state\'s fastest 4x400 meter relay in the Osbourn Park girls. Events will start at 4:30 PM on Friday and resume again on Saturday at 9:00 AM.

The All-MileStat.com Girls Cross Country Team has been selected for the 2006 season. Awards were given out to runner of the year, coach of the year, freshmen of the year, most improved runner of the year, and comeback story of the year. Also being named were first, second, and third teams consisting of seven members for each team. Performances throughout the season were looked at with championship and post-season races being given stronger, but not ultimate consideration. The very unpredictable and inconsistent nature of the sport on a week to week basis makes any selections tough to break down into a science, but our hope is the main goal of trying to give as much as recognition as possible to individuals in the sport is noted and appreciated. MERRY CHRISTMAS & HAPPY HOLIDAYS!

Virginia will have four representatives in Saturday\'s Foot Locker Nationals held at Balboa Park in San Diego, California. The lone female among the Virginians is Aurora Scott as the homeschooled junior from Chesapeake has a strong chance at becoming the first Foot Locker Nationals champion from the state of Virginia as well as the South region since 1986. Meanwhile, Abingdon junior Griff Graves and West Springfield senior Mike Spooner have All-American top 15 aspirations and higher in the 40 runner field for the boys. Mountain View sophomore Thomas Porter will be getting valuable early experience on Saturday at Balboa as only one of a few underclassmen who have qualified for the race among the four Foot Locker regions.

MileStat.com\'s Brandon Miles interviews Footlocker South champion Aurora Scott as the homeschooled junior from Chesapeake broke the 20 year old course record held by fellow Virginia Erin Keogh of Langley (16:45, 1986) by a considerable 19 second margin with her final time of 16:26. After the win and course record time, Scott has to be considered as one of the favorites for Foot Locker Nationals to be held on Saturday, December 9th in San Diego, California at Balboa Park (even with defending champ Jordan Hasay of California returning).

Foot Locker South is coming up this weekend as McAlpine Greenway Park in Charlotte, North Carolina will host the best cross country runners from the 14 state region with state of Virginia bringing in some of the best that the South has to offer.

Several tuneup races this weekend for cross country runners looking to continue their seasons onto Foot Locker South next Saturday in Charlotte, North Carolina. Returning Foot Locker All-American in homeschooled junior Aurora Scott appears to be in amazing shape and ready to challenge pre-race favorite Kathy Kroeger of Tennessee as Foot Locker South champion after running a reported 16:35 road race 5K today in Williamsburg, Virginia. Meanwhile, W.T. Woodson senior Sarrah Hadiji bounced back from having to drop out of the state race with a turned ankle as she won the Charger Elite 3200 Meter Run at Chantilly High School in a reported time of 11:09. Meanwhile, Herndon\'s Ermin Mujezinovic wins the boys with a time of 9:32. With stronger representation and recruitment of their top runners, Maryland boys and girls both won the first ever Battle of the Potomac as Hermitage\'s John Vial (3rd, 16:41) and West Potomac\'s Elizabeth Heath (2nd, 19:20) lead Team Virginia.

Oaktree Academy junior Aurora Scott continues to amaze heading into this fall\'s cross country season as it is very apparent that while she was not racing during the track season, she was clearly preparing for this fall\'s cross country season as shown by her recent performance this past weekend at the Rock \'n\' Roll Half Marathon in Virginia Beach. Scott was the top finishing runner in her age group, 14th among all females, and 65th overall with a mind boggling time of 1:18.15.

After a long absence from racing, Oaktree Academy junior Aurora Scott has put together two impressive races this month to show she is back and fitter than ever. Scott disappeared from the racing scene after her All-American ninth place finish at Foot Locker Nationals in December. On August 12th, Scott won the ASYMCA 8K Mud Run in Virginia Beach in 39:35. Her time was 28 seconds faster than her 2005 victory in the same race in 40:03. Scott raced on a much faster and mud-less East Coast Surfing Championships 5K course on August 26th to clock a personal best time of 17:08 to beat her Foot Locker South time of 17:15 from last November. Scott won the race by nearly three minutes.

The year of 2005 was a very significent year in the state of Virginia\'s high school and college running community with many big stories filling out the 12 months. From the terrible losses with an unusually high number of deaths by young student-athletes in the sport to the stories of championship glory, MileStat.com counts down the 10 biggest news stories of the year. While there were many important events throughout the year, these 10 come to mind as some of ones that really stood out among the rest as attention grabbers.

Virginia sent its largest delegation to Foot Locker Nationals Saturday since 2001 when three Virginian boys qualified in Bobby Lockhart, Fleet Hower, and Matt Keally. This year\'s Virginia delegation of three included Oaktree Academy sophomore Aurora Scott, Northside junior Catherine White, and Chantilly senior Brad Siragusa. Just like in Virginia\'s group of three in 2001, two Virginians earned All-American honors as Scott (9th, 17:49) and White (11th, 17:53) finished in the top 14 places, while Siragusa struggled with a 38th place performance of 16:43. Scott and White were also the top two finishers for the South region after finishing third and sixth respectively at the regional meet in Charlotte two weeks ago. While a disappointing finish for Siragusa after running two of the best races of his high school career at the state meet and Foot Locker South, the Northern Arizona University bound senior can not hang his head low on what has been a great final season of high school cross country. Fellow MileSplit Network webmaster Don Rich of penntrackxc.com was on-site with coverage at Foot Locker Nationals and has provided photos of the Virginians in action and also will be providing interviews conducted with White and Scott hopefully in the next day or two.

Find out which cross country girls from the state of Virginia were selected to this year\'s All-MileStat.com team. Runner of the Year, Coach of the Year, Newcomer of the Year, and Most Improved Runner of the Year awards were given out as well as the first, second, and third teams consisting of seven runners each.

Oaktree Academy sophomore Aurora Scott scorched yet another swift 5K against college competition as she dropped her previous state season leader best of 17:36 with a 17:32 win at the Norfolk State College Invitational. Scott had clocked her previous season best of 17:36 at Great American in the Nike Race of Champions college women race where she finished 13th overall. In wet conditions at Mount Trashmore in Virginia Beach and little of any competition as she won by 53 seconds, Scott outdid her Great American performance by four seconds.

Road racing in Virginia during the summer has become a place where high school runners test their training, race competitively, and enjoy the chance to race against some of the top

Hayfield senior Melissa Dewey earned All-American honors by finishing 13th overall at the 2004 Foot Locker Nationals race held at Balboa Park in San Diego, California. Dewey finished with a time of 18:23 on the 5K course and was the second highest finisher from the South region after finishing fourth at the Foot Locker South Regional race. Fellow Virginia Aurora Scott finished 28 seconds behind Dewey in 26th place. The Western Branch freshmen was the third finishing freshmen of five total in the race. The race was won by junior Aislinn Ryan of New York in a time of 17:31.

The state of Virginia will be sending two representatives to this year\'s Foot Locker Nationals in Hayfield senior Melissa Dewey and Western Branch freshmen Aurora Scott. Dewey and Scott were among the top eight nationals bound finishers in the girls\' seeded race at the Foot Locker South Regional Meet held at McAlpine Greenway Park in Charlotte, North Carolina. Foot Locker South Photo Gallery by Lee Dick