Olivia Alessandrini, a senior at top-ranked Niwot High in Colorado and a member of the five-time Class 4A state champion Cougars and last year's Nike Cross Nationals runner-up lineup, joins DyeStat editor Erik Boal to discuss competing Oct. 28 at the Colorado High School Activities Association state final at Norris Penrose Events Center in Colorado Springs. Niwot is looking to become the sixth girls program in Colorado prep history to win at least six state cross country titles and only the third to secure at least six in a row, along with The Classical Academy and Lake County. Alessandrini, who finished 14th at last year's state championship meet, placed second at the 4A Region 3 meet in 17:49.0 at the North Area Athletic Complex in Arvada, as the Cougars had six of the top seven athletes in the race, in addition to nine of the top 12 competitors overall. She reflects on Niwot's performance Sept. 29 at the Desert Twilight Festival and producing a perfect score of 15 points after sweeping the top five spots. Alessandrini also shares that she experienced testing positive for COVID-19 following the team competing in Arizona and explains the challenges with returning to training and racing at an elite level. She analyzes her consistency this season and achieving top-five efforts in each race and speaks about her development and improvement since last year. Alessandrini shares how meaningful it has been to become a regular contributor in the Niwot lineup and how significant it is to be part of one of the deepest senior classes in program history, along with Mia Prok, Sarah Perkins, Cayden Justice, Kendall Madine and her sister Viola Alessandrini. She speaks about Air Academy competing in Class 5A the past two years and no longer racing against the Kadets in the Class 4A final, with the first opportunity for the programs to square off expected to occur Nov. 18 at the Nike Southwest Regional at Coyote Run Golf Course at Leisure World in Arizona. Alessandrini highlights how valuable it will be to race against fellow Colorado programs Air Academy and Mountain Vista, along with Lone Peak and American Fork from Utah, at NXR Southwest in preparation for competing Dec. 2 at Nike Cross Nationals at Glendoveer Golf Course in Portland, Ore. She also revisits her trip to Italy and competing in the Under-18 Club Championships in September and winning the women's 1,500-meter title in Perugia.