Photo by Steve Brant – Jojo Tyynismaa (Center) of Wartburg College qualified for the national finals of Division III of Division III of Division III of the athletics championships in 60 meters, in competition at 2:10 p.m. on Saturday.
Jojo TyynisMaa’s athletics career is so accomplished that it may seem strange to think that it has the impression of having unfinished affairs. But she does it.
The South Tama graduate in 2022, and now Wartburg, qualified for the final of Saturday in the 60 meters hurdles at the indoor championships of Division III of the NCAA with an eighth place in the preliminary races held in Golisano Training Center on the campus of the University of Nazareth in Rochester, in New York.
Tyynismaa was the last qualifier, finishing eighth in 8.71 seconds. The 60 -meter hedge female finals are scheduled for 2:10 p.m. Saturday.
Tyynismaa had one of the most decorated athletics careers in the history of southern Tama. It holds five STC school records, medalists nine times during the state competition, including a state of state in the 400 hedges.
All this was accomplished in just three seasons after the cancellation of his second season on track due to the world pandemic of COVID-19, which also destroyed the senior season of her older sister Isabelle in Wartburg, where she was also a regular qualification for national meetings.

Photo by Steve Brant – Jojo TYYNISMAA attacks the first obstacle to the 60 meters hedges during the meeting of the Conference of American Rivers on March 1.
She noted that the STC team had had a high weeks of opening the training in early March 2020 before the end of the season.
“Losing my second season was bit bitten,” Tynismaa is now thinking. “Thinking about these practices, I think it shows what could have been.”
Since then, she has committed to catch up with lost time.
Although her junior year was marked by a quad injury, she was always able to add two state medals to her total.
“The injury affected me during the state meeting, but I could see my younger brother Tommy compete during his first appearance of a state, which was really fun,” said Tyynismaa.
During his senior campaign in STC, everything met. She was in good health and was able to capture what had escaped her at this point: a state championship. Tyynismaa established the school record in the 400 hedges (1: 03.65) and was slightly bordered Derci Wiseman from Winterset (1: 03.73) to capture gold.
She became the first individual female champion of STC in a race event in the history of the school.
“It was one of my favorite memories in my career in high school,” said TYYNISMAA. “Honestly, I didn’t expect it. I just tried to fill the gap in the last lap. In the same competition, Tyynismaa also added finalists in the 100 hedges and the Open 200 (the two new school records). It was also a successful meeting for the athletics program for STC boys and girls as a whole.
“We were a very a little a little group,” noted TyynisMaa. “It was really fun as a program because we had a lot of people to qualify in several events and we were able to hear so many friends and family of South Tama applauding all around the track.”
When everything was said and done, it was one of the best athletics careers in the history of the STC. But Tyynismaa always had this question of “if” concerning the 2020 season.
While the Athletics season STC closed for Jojo in the spring of 2020, 60 miles from there to the north, her sister Isabelle lost her senior track season at Wartburg College. Isabelle was an off -track athlete in its own right. She still has the record for Open 400 in STC. In Wartburg, she qualified each year for nationals of Division III, in particular by being part of the 4 × 400 outdoor relay team in 3rd place. But the day before, she was to compete in the nationals of Division III in the 2020 room, the season was canceled, as well as the entire outdoor season. For Isabelle now, as well as Jojo, there were unfinished affairs.
When the time came for Jojo to make his choice in college, the decision was easy. She followed the traces of her sister Isabelle and went to Wartburg.
“For me, I knew that if I was going to work at university, it was going to be Wartburg,” said Jojo. “With Belle who crosses the program before me, I learned a lot about the training there and I experienced knowledge of the head coach (Marcus) Newsom at a personal level.”
His decision has borne fruit.
“Wartburg’s athletics program was so fun and I was able to grow in several ways,” said Jojo. “I have teammates who push me to become the best version of myself.”
Although she admits that it took a while to get used to the routine of practice, Jojo quickly had the success she had in high school. During her first -year season in Wartburg, she and her Médley Relais teammates won 4th place in the national indoor competition. She also qualified in three events in the outdoor national competition. In the second year, she qualified in three events in interior nationals and obtained the first 20 in each. During the open -air national competition, she also ran in three events, including a 3rd place in the 400 hedges.
Currently, throughout the history of Wartburg’s athletics, Jojo has the 10 best times in five different women’s race events.
While his junior indoor season ends at the end of this spring, Jojo continued to increase his distinctions. Two weeks ago at the indoor competition of the American Rivers conference, she won the 60 meters hurdles, the Open 400, finished second in Open 200 and anchored a second place for the 4 × 400 relay team. For the second consecutive year, she was elected the most precious artist of the meeting.
Jojo is already very successful on his athletics curriculum vitae. But it is not difficult for her to find motivation for more.
“I find that the motivation growing up with three brothers and sisters,” said Jojo. “We have played a lot of matches and have always created competitions around almost everything. My teammates and I motivate. And I also really appreciate the sport of athletics and I love being able to compete at a higher level.
But there was another motivation that Jojo cited as she went to New York.
“Coach Newsom and I are still discussing the senior season of my Belle sister who was interrupted due to the cocovio pandemic. We like to talk about how I have something, through my sister, to accomplish while I am here: an unfinished business.
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Photo by Steve Brant – Jojo Tyynismaa (Center) of Wartburg College qualified for the national finals of Division III of Division III of Division III of the athletics championships in 60 meters, in competition at 2:10 p.m. on Saturday.
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Photo by Steve Brant – Jojo TYYNISMAA attacks the first obstacle to the 60 meters hedges during the meeting of the Conference of American Rivers on March 1.