This winter, the Lakeland Regional High School cheer team had another strong season.

The 2025 season brought a great record. Coach Allison Saraceni tells the Lancer, “We finished our Big North Conference season 7-1 and advanced to the Playoffs! We also won the County Title for the second year in a row.” Coach Saraceni described winning back the county title as a “truly unbelievable moment.” This was only the second year that Passaic County recognized cheer as a sport, and LRHS cheer is proud to be “the only team able to say [we] are county champs.”

Of course success does not come easy. The squad begins preparing for their fall season in August, and their hard work and skill is brought into the winter one, which starts in January. Coach Saraceni shares that the team set “high goals” for themselves from the start. This demonstrates how hard working and dedicated LRHS cheerleaders are.

Back to counties, one unforgettable moment was facing Wayne Valley to defend the Lancer’s county title, after seeing their only loss in the regular season to the Indians. In the match, Coach Saraceni recalls that Valley is a “large team with tons of talent… Knowing we were facing them a week [after we lost] at counties, the athletes used that as motivation to come together as a team and push ourselves to our fullest potential to defend our title.”

The team captains were really the heart and soul of the team. The three seniors leaders, Julia Chontos, Jordyn Rapp, and Ta’Shae Sanford, gave the team motivation and showed them how to work as a team.

Next season will be big for the cheer team, as they are discussing how they can improve even more. They are motivated and ready for any competition that comes their way.This cheer team was one of the best Lakeland has ever had, and it should be exciting to see how successful they are next season.