The events and venues may change, but one constant remains. JoJo Tyynismaa is an All-American.

The Wartburg junior and South Tama County alum has racked up many of these honors in previous years, her highest place being outdoor nationals last year finishing third in the 400 meter hurdles.

This indoor season, Tyynismaa qualified for the national meet with the 4×400 meter relay and the 60 meter hurdles. Qualification is based off of top times in the nation for each event.

Starting off her bid at indoor nationals, Tyynismaa qualified into the finals for the 60 hurdles. Taking second place in the third and final heat of the qualifying round, her finishing time had her seeded eighth coming into the finals and guaranteed an All-American finish.

After a four hour break to rest and recover, Tyynismaa was slated to anchor Wartburg’s 4×4. Getting out to a good start, the Knights encountered trouble in the exchange from the first athlete to the second. This small blunder put a sizable gap between the quartet of Knights and the rest of the field. Tyynismaa received the baton in the back and did her best to get the team back into the race, but the gap was too much for even a Tyynismaa to overcome.

On Saturday, competition returned to the Golisano Training Center in Rochester, N.Y. When the gun sounded, Tyynismaa shot out of lane 7 and barreled towards the hurdles ahead of her. Clearing the first hurdle, she held even with the field before an untimely collision of her lead leg and the second hurdle slowed her momentum. Keeping her balance, she finished the race in eighth place with a time of 9.18 seconds. Although not the cleanest race of Tyynismaa’s career, she had once again earned her All-American finish.