Over 100 people woke up early in the morning on Saturday to participate in the West Ranch Cross Country team’s inaugural community 5k Run and Walk titled “Home for the Holidays” held at College of the Canyons Cougar Stadium.
Local students, community members, parents, and even a few people from the Antelope Valley gathered at the stadium in cold weather to promote healthy living and support the fundraiser’s efforts, which were to collect canned food, toys, and help a few dogs from the Castaic Animal Care Shelter get adopted.
Karen Cirricione, West Ranch High School’s co-head coach for the girls’ cross country team, was full of energy as she encouraged runners to finish strong by yelling through the microphone positive reassurance and cheering them on until they crossed the finish line.
“We wanted to help out the community,” said Cirricione. “As coaches, we’ve always been trying to instill in our athletes that not only are we amazing runners and we work hard and we build our talent as athletes, but we give back to others and we give back to the community at the same time.”
Although it was an inaugural event, the West Ranch cross country team is known to give back. In the past, students have participated in a “Run with Dogs” day activity, which gives canines at the local shelter a chance to spend a day out running with the team and a temporary break from a cage.
“We really want our athletes to be a community member, great athletes, but also great people,” Cirricione said and credited the successful morning to Kate Povletich, the girls cross country coach and race director.
“We didn’t come out here expecting to get them adopted. We just came out here just hoping to get attention,” Castaic Animal Care Center Volunteer Program Coordinator Kelsey Tarleton said, who was present with two volunteers handling Praline, a German shepherd, and Booker, a flat coat retriever.
Both dogs have been at the shelter for about a month, and taking a break from a cage, “feels good for them … it’s a nice change to be able to get out,” Tarleton said.
Povletich had the idea of hosting a community 5k for years but never fully committed because she was aware it took a lot of time and effort. This year a handful of students including Mady Broyles, the current team captain, helped the idea become a reality.
“We had a really big brainstorming session back in September, and kind of then we got caught up in our cross country season, then kind of came back to it in October, and really got the ball rolling …” Povletich said, adding that it took just three months to get everything together. “Just seeing everybody out here … seeing our kids talking to the people of the community, we’ve got donations, everybody’s been very generous and supportive. We’re kind of building this and seeing how it goes.”
“It was kind of just a mix of passions … [and] it’s really cool to see, like we got this many people to come out, and it’s our first … It’s nice to be a part of starting something that can definitely turn into something,” Broyles said.
Povletich hopes to make the 5k Run and Walk an annual event and with time it’ll expand with other local schools’ cross country programs participating.
The route for Saturday’s event was the same as the Foothill League meets and aimed to show participants that the cross country team competes through a challenging course.
“I’m sure people that have never run it, it was probably really hard but it’s a great opportunity for them to kind of understand what it means to be a high school athlete out here, because they run that course every year as a competition,” Povletich said.
West Ranch students Josslyn Forsyth and Audra Leiva, both juniors, accomplished the 5k run in approximately 30 minutes.
Although they weren’t runners themselves, they wanted to participate because it gave them something to do in the morning.
Once crossing the finish line, Forsyth felt refreshed, and some advice she shared for people interested in trying it out was to “just try it,” she said. “If anyone’s scared, there’s nothing to be ashamed about.”
