While sophomore Nakia Ollivierre is a new student to West High, she has already made her mark as an extraordinary athlete.
Since transferring from Ackley Geneva Wellsburg Steamboat Rock High School (AGWSRHS) to West High, Ollivierre has beaten her own personal record four times, and continued to lower the West women’s cross country record. Ollivierre shares that the transfer between the schools came with adapting to harder competition, but was easier than she expected.
In October, Olliveirre secured her spot at the 2023 IGHSAU State Cross Country race. Despite running in over 30mph wind, Olliveirre finished the qualifying race in Marshalltown with a final time of 18:43, lowering her personal record and West High’s record again.
This race time would put Ollivierre as the second fastest runner at the Marshalltown race. On top of placing second at this meet, Ollivierre now holds the title of the 10th fastest state qualifying time in the state.
Once she made it to the state race in Fort Dodge, the sophomore would be blocked in for the first portion of the race, struggling to make it past her opponents. After she was able to get in her own space, Ollivierre would pass her competitors and make her way up to the first five runners. “My goal was getting top five so I knew if I ran as hard as I could I could get it,” she says.
With a time of 18 minutes and 1.0 seconds, Ollivierre would place fourth at the 2023 IGHSAU State Cross Country race. Alongside the fourth place title, she also now holds the 12th fastest time in the state. As the first three runners were seniors, Ollivierre was the youngest runner in the top five, “I can’t wait for next year to be able to see what I can do with those seniors out of my way,” she says.
Compared to her fourth place 4A finish her sophomore year, Ollivierre placed 10th in the 3A state race her freshman year when running for AGWSR, finishing the race with a time of 19:27.45.
As she plans for her junior and senior year seasons, Ollivierre shares her hopes to improve greatly. “Now I know that next year I have a very good opportunity to bring a championship back to Waterloo West,” she says. Ollivierre notes that she plans to work towards a conference championship as well as a state championship next year.
