MILLEDGEVILLE, Ga. – The University of North Georgia's (UNG) Ahna Hicks earned Peach Belt Conference Freshman of the Year with an impressive fourth-place finish at the 2025 PBC Championship on Saturday at the GCSU West Campus Cross Country Course.

Hicks ran a 5K time of 18:58 finishing just 16 seconds behind the individual champion Chloe Smith (18:42) of Flagler. By virtue of her top-15 finish, Hicks earned a spot on the league's All-Conference team.

North Georgia' s Maggie Welp (19:24, 11^th) and Tessie Braman (19:27, 14^th) also earned All-Conference distinction.
 
As a team, the Nighthawk finished third overall out of 11 teams with 71 points trailing champion Flagler with 21 points and August (62 points).  The team title is Flagler's eighth consecutive.

Aubrey Dishman (19:57, 27^th) and Jordan Starling (20:10, 34^th) rounded out the scoring for North Georgia.
 
Hicks' Freshman of the Year honor is the fourth for the UNG cross country team since 2019 as Hicks joins Karmen Leroy (2019), Claire Mills (2020) and Nealeigh Broadwell (2023) as recipients of the league's top honor for first year runners.

Additionally, the PBC also announced North Georgia's Elizabeth Padilla Brun as the winner of the Elite 18 Award. The PBC Elite 18 Award is presented at each of the PBC's 18 championships to the student-athlete competing with the highest cumulative overall GPA.

Padilla Brun holds a 4.00 GPA and is a recipient of the D2ADA Academic Achievement Award and a PBC Presidential Honor Roll Gold Scholar, as well as a member of the PBC Team of Academic Distinction. Padilla Brun is the second Nighthawk to win the Elite 18 Award in three years, following Ella Stoudenmire in 2023. 

Additionally, Welp was voted to the PBC Women's Cross Country All-Sportsmanship team.

North Georgia will return to action on Saturday, Nov. 8 at the NCAA Division II Southeast Regional in Wingate, N.C.