Freshman Nicky Black became the third Mary Baldwin cross country runner to earn All-Region recognition Saturday with a 32nd-place finish in the 2024 NCAA Division III South regional championship race in Jackson, Miss.

Black, who recently won the USA South Championship race and was named the USA South Conference Runner of the Year and Freshman of the Year, joined Alyssa Starnes (2009) and three-time all-region honoree Sophia Stone (2010-12) as Fighting Squirrels to earn All-Region honors.

The first-year student from Lexington, Va., started the race strong and was leading the 169 competitors after the first kilometer of the 6K chase.  At the mid-point mark, Black was in 19th place in 11:09.3.  When she crossed the finish line, Black covered the course in 23:22.9 and was the eighth freshman to finish the race.

"Nicky's right shoelace came undone during the race," said MBU coach Rob VanCleve.  "It's OK.  She's a freshman with a very bright future.  It's a great learning experience for Nicky.  You can't fault her for being gutsy and putting it all on the line."

Senior teammate Caroline Motley also represented MBU, ranking 60th at the mid-point mark (12:00.1) and 61st out of the 169 total runners in a final time of 23:24.1.

"Caroline ran an outstanding race and posted a personal record with her 61st place finish," VanCleve said.

Neither MBU runner will likely advance to next week's NCAA championship race in Terre Haute, Ind.  The official announcement will be made Sunday afternoon, but after the top teams are chosen to compete for the national title, the top seven runners from each region that aren't on a team competing in the championship will also be invited to compete.  That means an individual would likely need to finish among the top 15-to-18 runners in a regional championship to advance to the NCAA championship event.