CSUF's season ended in disappointment recently, bowing out of contention for nationals by counting several falls at the regional championships. Jo narrowly missed out on qualifying on an individual apparatus (bars) and some felt she was hard done by.

However, now Jo is enjoying a break from the continual training and competing, and looking forward to an exciting summer. She is currently studying hard for her final exams.

Well done Jo on a great season and all the best for next year.

Jo has had perhaps her best ever competition at the Big West Conference Championships, where the CSUF team placed first, and qualified for the regional championships! Jo came first on vault and equal first on beam, and she hold high hopes of advancing to the National Championships for individual apparatus. Hopefully she will earn a 10 on bars at some stage - a score that is a long time coming!

Go JO and CSUF - all the best for Regionals at UCLA on April 7th.

The 2001 season is nearly over, and CSUF have been doing very well. Please look at the results page for Jo's scores. It is likely that CSUF will advance to the regionals, with Jo having a great chance of making it to the National Championships for bars.

Jo has a chronic achilles tendon condition, which will keep her out of the floor exercise for the most part of this year. "Joanna’s floor training has been stopped, so her all-around has been affected, but we don’t want to risk losing her on vault. If she continues to improve, we might consider floor for the latter part of the season," says Coach Knight. 

CSUF had their first competition of the year against UCLA - where the finished second with 196.825 to 192.900.

Jo is busy training and studying hard, with little time for much else. Training is going well for her, and she has a new floor routine for the 2001 season - to former VIS teammate, Lisa Moro's old music - "Riverdance."

Although it was two months ago (so sorry for the lack of updates during the Olympic Games period), Jo ran with the Olympic Torch in her home state of Victoria, during her summer trip home. 

Here is a photo of Jo with the torch!

More photos coming soon.

Jo is back in the USA now, training hard for the upcoming season. A new schedule has been added, so you can see when her competitions will take place. More news about how Jo's training is going, will follow soon.

Jo will be running the Olympic torch in Koo Wee Rup, Victoria, during August this year. Currently, it is scheduled for her to run on Monday, 7th August, but the date is tentative. It will be finalised six weeks prior to the date.

Here are a few words from Jo:

"Our competition season doesn't begin again 'till January and we don't have official practice 'till the end of August. My coaches wanted me to have the whole five months off which is just crazy as I only ever used to get around a week [holiday] at the most. Anyway there are open times at the gym starting next week which I will go occasionally to, and when I come home in June [to Australia] for our summer break I will train at the VIS occasionally aswell so I don't lose all my skills and have to start over again. Plus I want to learn some new tumbling and relearn some tumbling I used to do.  I am getting a new floor routine which should be interesting and will probably change my beam dance."

Jo's season is now finished, after her recent performance at the regional championships. Click here to see how Jo did at regionals.

Now that her season is over, only occasional updates will be added when necessary.

Jo has told me that she has performed well enough this year to go to the regional championships, along with two teammates. Congratulations Jo! More information will be posted when it comes to hand.

Given a rest (from the all around) from her coaches after a very full-on few weeks of competition, Jo put in three excellent routines to help her team finish ahead of the Seattle Pacific (191.600-188.625).

Click HERE for more information!

For the second consecutive meet, Jo has won the all around! This time, against Sacramento State University, Jo scored 38.850 for first place, as well as first on bars with 9.80.

Click HERE for more information!

Ever since she began gymnastics, Joanna has always been a gymnast for consistency, as well as improving as the season goes on. There is little doubt that this is occuring, as with every meet she competes she improves personal scores, as well as breaking endless records!

In today's meet against Boise State University, Joanna scored her record high 39.025, to win the all around. This was the fifth highest all around score for a Cal State Fullerton gymnast, in history!

Adding her to her all around victory were event titles on vault (9.825 - tied with teammate Kelly Mathiasen), bars (9.850 - tied with teammate Katie Antolin - and tied with the Cal State Fullertonn record that she also achieved two weeks ago), and floor (9.800).

Joanna also helped her team (193.950) to a victory over Boise State (192.400), her first team win this season!! In addition to this, Cal State Fullerton broke the team record score for the second meet in a row!

A HUGE congratulations to Jo, for achieving so much so far in just three competitions - and winning her first all around titllee! Hopefully this is the first of many to come.

Click HERE for more information!

Joanna competed her first all around competition for Cal State Fullerton yesterday, posting a 38.825 all around, and helping her team to a school record - 193.800. They finished behind the highly regarded and competitive UCLA, who scored 195.925.

Individually, Jo finished fifth all around and won the bronze on bars.

Click HERE for more information!

Joanna has begun her NCAA career very successfully, in a meet between her team - the Cal-State Fullerton Titans, Arizona State and UC Santa Barbara. The Titans placed second (192.150) behind Arizona State, who scored 194.175.

Individually, Jo tied the school record on bars with a 9.850, which won her the gold medal. Her other scores included a 9.550 on vault (Hristakieva) and 9.225 on floor. She did not compete on beam.

Joanna has now travelled to the USA, and is preparing to study at the Cal-State Fullerton University. She will also be competing in the collegiate gymnastics competition. Joanna has been named as an all around competitor throughout the season, which means that she will compete on all four apparatus in each competition. More updates will follow soon.