1.6 and newer is fine. 1.5 was just the newest version of PCSX2 at the time the updated rules for allowing emulated runs were made

Really the only glitches/exploits in the run are the two OoBs that save a combined 30-40 seconds, and the double feena exp in Solomon's Temple, which just saves some enemy kills you can route around. imo nothing significant enough to warrant making an entirely new category for their omission.

Apologies we had a conversation about it in the discord then forgot to respond. Because we don't fully know the timing difference between running on disc vs running off PS2 HDD and it isn't technically an "official" way to play the game, you can submit but under the Emulator category and indicate in the run description how you were running it.