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The clink of weights hit the gym floor at 7 a.m. It’s an early morning workout many Division I college athletes are familiar with, but this one doesn’t involve a ball - instead it requires handling a nearly 1,000-pound animal on stage unlike any other sport.
“The crowd is crescendoing up to a huge roar. And then the buffalo runs and you get to run out behind her and the crowd goes wild," Taylor Stratton, the Ralphie Live Mascot program manager. "And so you can't get that anywhere else, that's just here,” she said of the moment handlers run out on Folsom Field with Ralphie, a buffalo and live mascot for the University of Colorado, Boulder (CU).
In August, Stratton expects many people to apply for a spot on her team's roster. With the unprecedented changes new University of Colorado football coach Deion Sanders has made for the team, Stratton said she expects the excitement to carry over to the Ralphie Live Mascot program.
In 2022, 85 people applied for seven spots on the team. Applications are open to any full-time undergraduate or graduate student at the University of Colorado. The selection process involves physical tests and an interview.
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