Celebrating spots on the varsity cheer team, freshmen Ava and Alexa Griese enjoyed Texas Roadhouse and Crumbl Cookies after tryouts in April. The girls sat with their family refreshing their phones waiting for the results to be posted, and they were thrilled when the team roster uploaded.
The twins have cheered together for three years through school and seven years competitively.
“I was outside and mom came over to me and told me I made varsity,” Ava said. “I love cheer, and it was pretty crazy because I made varsity as a freshman. I remember during that moment my family was congratulating me.”
With the sisters being on the same team, they keep each other accountable and remind each other what to pack for cheer practices and competitions. Ava and Alexa are not identical twins, although they look extremely similar. When they were little, their mom assigned them different colors to help tell them apart.
“Ava is a little taller than Alexa, and Alexa has a mole on her chin that helps to tell them apart,” their mom, Ms. Misti Griese said. “We painted Ava’s toenails pink, and she had a pink pearl bracelet. We painted Alexa’s toenails white, and she had a white pearl bracelet.”
While in fourth grade, the girls switched classes to see if anyone would notice, but because they share a wardrobe and look so similar, only one person noticed. The cheer team tends to mix them up when they stand farther, but up close most of them can tell who is who. They also have different roles with Ava being a flyer and Alexa being a tumbler or base, so their different positions help tell them apart. Ava and Alexa are close friends with the Stark twins, Allie and Emily, who also do cheer. Allie cheers on varsity and Emily cheers on JV.
“The Starks moved four houses down when the girls were in first grade. They have been inseparable ever since,” Ms. Griese said. They are very well known because they are twins, and always get the confused stares when they walk in somewhere together because it’s not normal to see two sets of twins.”
Ava and Alexa often get asked what it is like to be a twin, but they haven’t ever been without each other so it is their normal life. They don’t know what it’s like not being a twin, and when in public without each other, it feels odd being alone.
“I feel like we could tumble more in sync,” Alexa said. “It makes our bond closer.”
Despite the size of classes in high school, the twins’ relationship has grown stronger. They love spending time together and sharing life.
“I love being a twin because you always have someone to hang out with and do stuff with,” Ava said. “My favorite part of cheer is tumbling and hanging out with my friends.”
