Gymnastics
- Title:
- Head Coach
- E-mail:
- jlsaleem@bsu.edu
- Phone:
- 765-285-1221
To see the impact 12th-year head coach Joanna Saleem has made on Ball State gymnastics one has to look no further than the program’s record book.
Entering the 2025 season, the top 37 team scores in program history have all come under Saleem’s guidance, including a program record 198.025 at the 2024 Tennessee Collegiate Classic (Jan. 19, 2024). Prior to her arrival for the 2014 season, the Cardinals had never scored higher than 195.475 as a team, with both of those scores coming in 2001. Saleem first helped the Cardinals break the 195.500 mark on March 8, 2015, and the 196.000 plateau on Feb. 20, 2022.
It is not just the overall team record her Cardinals have shattered either, as Saleem’s student-athletes have set team event standards on all four apparatus: vault (49.375 at the Tennessee Collegiate Classic on Jan. 19, 2024), bars (49.775 at the Tennessee Collegiate Classic on Jan. 19, 2024), beam (49.350 at the Tennessee Collegiate Classic on Jan. 20, 2023), and floor (49.625 at the Tennessee Collegiate Classic on Jan. 19, 2024).
The individual records are there as well:
On vault, Saleem helped train Suki Pfister to the second perfect 10 in program history at the 2024 Tennessee Collegiate Classic (Jan. 19). Of the top 38 individual vaults in program history, 33 have been recorded by Saleem’s student-athletes.
On bars, she helped train Megan Teter and Zoe Middleton to perfect 10s at the 2024 Tennessee Collegiate Classic (Jan. 19). Of the top 28 individual bars routines in program history, 23 have been recorded by Saleem’s student-athletes.
On beam, she mentored Arden Hudson to a program-record 9.925 at Bowling Green on Feb. 19, 2021. In addition, Grace Evans, Taylor Waldo, Grace Sumner, and Lauren Volpe all landed routines of 9.925 in 2023, with Waldo hitting the mark three times. Of the top 26 individual beam routines in program history, 22 have been recorded by Saleem’s student-athletes.
On floor, she helped Denashia Christian tie her own program record of 9.950 to capture the 2016 Mid-American Conference floor championship. Suki Pfister has added 9.950s of her own in each of the last two seasons at the Tennessee Collegiate Classic (Jan. 20, 2023 and Jan. 19, 2024). Saleem has also seen her student-athletes earn 22 scores of 9.925, to account for 25 of the top 35 floor routines in program history.
That would be a great resume for any coach, but Saleem’s impact has been felt far past just those records. Named the 2021, 2023 and 2024 MAC Coach of the Year, Saleem led the Cardinals to the program’s second-ever NCAA Regional team appearance last season with a National Qualifying Score of 196.395. The effort helped her become the first coach in program history to earn WCGA Regional Coach of the Year honors, as she picked up the award for the Central Region.
In addition, BSU made a second straight NCAA Regional team appearance in 2024 at the Ann Arbor Regional after producing a NQS of 196.600.
Ball State finished the 2021 campaign with a NQS of 195.725 to rank 37th in the country and just miss out on an NCAA regional team berth, as the top 36 teams earned automatic bids. However, that did not stop the Cardinals from sending four individuals to the 2021 NCAA Tuscaloosa Regional. Representing the Cardinals were Evans (Bars), Claudia Goyco (Floor), Victoria Henry (Vault) and Teter (Bars).
Saleem also helped the Cardinals send a pair of gymnasts to the 2019 Baton Rouge Regional with Nychyk and Stefanie Schweikert both competing on vault. Overall, Saleem has helped 17 student-athletes advance a total of 23 times to the NCAA Regionals during her time at Ball State, including a program-record five individuals in 2016, as well as in 2023 and 2024 after the team’s first-round losses to NC State and Illinois, respectively.
At the MAC Championships, Saleem mentored Christian to three consecutive individual floor championships from 2014-2016, as well as the individual vault title in 2016. In addition, Nychyk was the MAC individual co-champion on vault in 2021 and Henry won the vault title in 2023. This past season, in 2024, Zoe Middleton captured the all-around title, along with individual event titles on both beam and floor. Ashley Szymanskiadded a bars championship, while Pfister tied for the title on floor.
Hannah Ruthberg was league runner-up on floor in 2021, while the Cardinals turned in four runner-up efforts in 2022. Pfister and Henry tied for second on vault, while Henry and Teter finished as runner-up on floor. Teter also placed second on bars at the 2023 MAC Championships while Pfister posted the second-best score on floor.
As a team, the Cardinals placed second at the 2016, 2023 and 2024 MAC Championships, marking the program’s best team finish since the squad won the event at home in 2002.
Saleem’s student-athletes have also earned 13 total All-MAC honors, with Goyco (2020), Pfister (2022, 2023 & 2024) and Szymanski (2024) earning first team, and Christian (2014), Stefanie Schweikert (2019), Henry (2021, 2023 & 2024), Ruthberg (2024), Middleton (2024) and Teter (2024) earning second-team honors. Goyco was also named the 2020 MAC Co-Specialist of the Year, while Pfister was the 2022, 2023 and 2024 MAC Specialist of the Year.
Ball State has also excelled in the classroom during Saleem’s tenure, with her student-athletes being honored with Academic All-MAC honors a total of 74 times. BSU’s gymnasts have also been named Women’s Collegiate Gymnastics Association (WCGA) Scholastic All-Americans a total of 89 times since the 2018 season.
Saleem, a 2004 graduate of Indiana who earned a master's degree at West Virginia in 2007, served as the Mountaineers' assistant gymnastics coach from 2002-08. She also served a stint as Iowa's assistant coach from 1999-2001 and was the head women's gymnastics coach at IU Pennsylvania for the 1996-97 season.
At West Virginia, Saleem coached a pair co-vault conference champions and two league beam champions, as well as helping the team to two team league championships. She assisted Janae Cox to two NCAA national appearances in the all-around and served as the recruiting coordinator for the Mountaineers.
While at Iowa, Saleem helped produce the 2001 Big Ten Conference Champions on the vault and floor and assisted the team to its first NCAA Regional team appearance in nine years.
Saleem was also a volunteer assistant gymnastics coach at North Carolina State in 1997-98, the first and only year the Wolfpack team qualified for NCAA Nationals. She also was an assistant coach at Bloomington North High School from 1993-95.
Saleem resides in Muncie with her husband, Dr. Mark Saleem, and their son Brayden.
