MOULTRIE – They’ve eluded her for so long, but before the end of the month she may have more of them than she’ll know what to do with.

It’s Colquitt County High junior student-athlete Elizabeth Funderburk and state championship medals. Beginning on Thursday, she begins a two-day quest at Berry College in Floyd County to win both the 1,600- and 3,200-meter runs at the GHSA Class 7A track and field championships. Funderburk won Region 1-7A in both races, and her times at the sectional meet against three other regions two weeks ago were the best … even compared to those at the other sectional with Class 7A’s four other regions.

However, Funderburk is taking nothing lightly approaching this weekend. She’s doing her regular schedule of running practice focusing on what she feels are not her strongest suits.

That is, after she spends some time on the Sunset Country Club golf course preparing for one other GHSA final event. Funderburk is the leader of the Lady Packer golf team which had the top score in area competition in Tifton two weeks ago, and two weeks from now the group will play in the two-day state tournament at Chateau Elan in Braselton.

And, she was scheduled to take an important AP exam Wednesday morning before taking the ride to the Rome area.

“State championships have kind of eluded me,” said Funderburk after completing some training early Tuesday evening. “I feel like this is my chance to finally get at least one.”

One of the distance races will be held Thursday evening at Berry’s new facility; the other, weather permitting, is Friday night.

“There’s definitely going to be some good competition,” said Funderburk. “You never know. I don’t get to compete against these girls. They get to compete against each other. I don’t know what they can really do. I don’t know if they’ve given me their best. I guess I’ll find out.”

During the fall cross country season, Funderburk was ranked No. 1 among Georgia Class 7A girls. In the spring track season, she raced among elite runners at an invitational hosted by Florida State University and placed seventh in the 1,600 meters.

“(Track running), I have to do a lot more speed work,” said Funderburk, pointing out how she just ran 200- and 400-meter dashes. “That’s definitely my weakness. I’m better at endurance.”

The golf course can be compared to a marathon but without her running shoes. Plus there’s the matter of the little white ball and the bag of metal clubs she must tote around.

“The past couple of tournaments, I’ve played well,” said Funderburk. “So maybe I can hang on to that for the next couple of weeks. I’ve been hitting it pretty well, so I’ll work on maintaining that and try to tune up my short game.”

Though it wasn’t technically a low medalist round, Funderburk fired a 74 at Kinderlou in Valdosta to earn the lowest score in the 1-7A tournament. She followed that up with a 79 in area play at Spring Hill in Tifton when Colquitt had a first-place team score of 267 to qualify for the GHSA final.

If endurance is Funderburk’s strength, after state golf will be two months plus of training for her senior cross country season.

“Hopefully I can take my improvements from track season and carry them over to cross country,” said Funderburk, who wanted to give a ‘shout out’ of thanks to her morning running group, a band of adult runners who train for marathons she said helps her get in extra mileage.