Gianna Langrehr is a member of the varsity cheerleading squad. She was brought up for the winter season and is one of two freshmen on the team.

Q: When did you start cheerleading, and what inspired you?

A: I started cheering when I was about seven or eight years old. My best friend was cheering, so I was with her a lot. I decided to join and have never turned back.

Q: What is your favorite thing about the sport?

A: I like how all of my cheerleading teams have been very close with each other. It’s basically like another family to me. But, I would say my favorite thing about it is that it takes a lot of determination to be good at it. It is a sport that pushes you beyond your limits, and I really enjoy that.

Q: What has your biggest accomplishment been?

A: My biggest accomplishment has probably been making varsity here. I really tried my hardest to show that I had what it takes, and in the end, it paid off.

Q: How has the transition from JV to varsity been?

A: It’s [the transition] has been very tough, but I think I am adjusting really well. It really helped that the prior varsity girls welcomed Alena Stoots [the other freshman on varsity] and I onto their team.

Q:  What’s the biggest difference between winter and fall cheerleading?

A: The winter and fall seasons are very similar, but the biggest difference is the sport we cheer for. In fall, we cheer for football and in winter we cheer for basketball and wrestling. There are usually more competitions in the winter season, also.

Q: What separates cheerleading from other sports?

A: Cheerleading isn’t like any other sport because in other sports, you have an entire game or meet to prove you can win. We only have two and a half minutes on the mats to show them [the judges] what we’ve got.

Stephanie Laird is a sports editor for “The Patriot” and www.jcpatriot.com.