“So, am I going to nationals?”
Rutgers sophomore Hannah Joyner texted her head coach, Umme Salim-Beasley, after the third round of the Morgantown regional concluded. California had secured its berth to nationals as a team. The Bears’ Maya Bordas was the only gymnast in round two to outscore Joyner’s 9.925 on beam, so California going to nationals meant Joyner would be, too.
Joyner watched the regional final on ESPN, and it was so nerve wracking that she couldn’t sit down. “I was just so nervous!” she said.
Salim-Beasley spent the meet calculating the scores the Bears needed to qualify, and subsequently, for Joyner to qualify too. “We were all on edge just waiting and seeing what the outcome was going to be,” she said. Joyner is just the third ever Rutgers qualifier to nationals, and the first on beam.
Salim-Beasley has long known Joyner is an amazing athlete. Joyner trained elite under Aimee Boorman, Simone Biles’ former coach, at Evo Athletics before returning to level 10 before starting college. She had a torn Achilles during her recruitment period, and Salim-Beasley thinks that some coaches may have assumed the injury would hold Joyner back. But she always had faith.
“We knew that she had a chance to be able to come back from that injury and that she was going to come back with a vengeance and really give all she had,” she said.
Joyner initially committed to Temple, where Salim-Beasley was previously the head coach. When Salim-Beasley moved to Rutgers, she recruited Joyner all over again in the hopes she would make the switch. Joyner needed to be introduced to a new campus, new teammates and a whole new program.
“She made me feel at home. I just feel like our personalities really click,” Joyner said of following Salim-Beasley to Rutgers.
Salim-Beasley’s faith in Joyner paid off. The sophomore has competed in the all around in every meet of her career so far, and has been a team leader from day one. Joyner doesn’t feel pressure, though. She enjoys competing in the all around and saw it as a smooth transition from J.O. where she was accustomed to competing on all four.
Because of her elite experience, Joyner has a large number of skills to choose from on each event. That allowed Salim-Beasley to carefully construct a beam routine that Joyner can hit every time without nerves or doubts. Joyner came in already confident in her skills; she just needed to rebuild endurance after the Achilles injury, and then she felt confident.
“Hannah is all business. She gets her assignments done, she doesn’t waste any time,” Salim-Beasley said. She takes fewer turns to complete assignments, because she just doesn’t make mistakes. She then turns around and encourages her teammates, leading by both example and through support.
In the lead-up to nationals, Joyner’s teammates are the ones encouraging her. They’re in the gym, completing conditioning and working on upgrades for next season while Joyner does her beam assignments. While it’s different to be the only one working routines, Joyner appreciates having her teammates around her. It almost feels like being back in J.O., so she’s comfortable.
Salim-Beasley expects Joyner to perform well at nationals because that’s just what she does. While the prospect of Joyner becoming an All-American or even placing is sitting in the back of the coaching staff’s mind, they’re trying to focus on helping Joyner put up the best routine she can. Joyner herself is looking forward to soaking in the nationals experience and doing what she does every day. She plans to just think about herself and the beam.
Salim-Beasley sees the 2021 season, from fighting through COVID restrictions and a litany of injuries, to Rutgers’ highest-ever finish at Big Tens and Joyner’s qualification to nationals, as a sign that Rutgers can compete with the best under any circumstances.
“It’s proof to us as coaches as well as our team that we really are capable no matter what the situation, that we’re capable of being able to go out and compete against some of the best teams in the country,” she said.
Joyner thinks her qualification will be a good motivator for herself, her teammates and future recruits to keep pushing the team forward. “It makes us even more hungry,” she said.
As for her own future, Joyner enjoyed watching the Morgantown regional. Seeing the big gymnastics Michigan performed motivated her to start thinking about next year’s potential upgrades: She has a full-in, layout layout beam series and Yurchenko one and a half on her mind. And further down the road? She wants to coach.
For now, though, it’s business as usual. Just Joyner and the beam.
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Article by Emily Minehart
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