Armwood’s Amber Duncan lone survivor from 3A-3 meet

Posted Nov 11, 2011 by Bill Ward

Updated Nov 11, 2011 at 01:28 PM

Despite running with the lingering effects of a flu bug, Armwood senior Amber Duncan became Hillsborough County’s lone qualifier for the Class 3A state cross country championships from the Region 3 meet when she finished 14th at Friday’s competition at the Charlotte Sports Complex in Punta Gorda.

Only the top six teams and first 15 individuals from each region advance to the state finals and at this meet, the competition was fierce.

“I knew today was all or nothing,” said Duncan, who covered the 5k course in 19 minutes, 42 seconds, a season best. “About halfway through the race, my parents told me I was in 14th place and I was trying so hard to hang on. I was really worried but now that I’ve made it, I’m so happy.”

The county’s team representatives all finished out of the top 10. In the girls meet, Strawberry Crest, Brandon and East Bay finished 12th, 13th and 14th, respectively—the bottom three places. And just last week, Brandon was a district champion. That district’s individual champion, senior Trixi Menge of Strawberry Crest, was fighting her own flu bug and wound up 21st.

Last year’s 2A girls state champion, Estero, won the meet with 33 points, beating last year’s 3A runner-up, Lakewood Ranch, by 25 points.

In the boys meet, Fort Myers won with 57, followed by Estero with 72. Boys district champion Brandon was 12th with 341 and Strawberry Crest (357) was 14th.

Duncan’s brother, Brandon, a part of triplets in their family, came down with the flu just a few days ago and finished 65th in 18:21. The county’s top finisher was Strawberry Crest’s Scott Bartlett, 41st in 17:25.