Posts Tagged ‘James McGrath’

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Stacked Northwest on Deck

Sunday, June 10th, 2012

The absolutely stacked Northwest region is on deck for this Sunday night on G4 and Monday night on NBC. Whenever discussion is had about the strongest region in ANW4, serious consideration has to be given to the Northwest as the creme de la creme. It has arguably 5 of the top 10 competitors in it, and inarguably 5 of the top 20 competitors.

David Campbell – Everybody who competes in ANW or watches ANW and/or Ninja Warrior knows David, and recognizes him as a top 3 runner year-in-year-out. He is a fierce competitor who is extremely consistent and focused. He made it farther than any American competitor in Sasuke 27 (Sasuke is the proper term for Ninja Warrior Japan), and has competed in Sasuke three or four times.
Travis Furlanic – David’s nephew and a stud on his own, Travis was the only American Ninja Warrior competitor to make the finals and compete in Sasuke all three seasons. He is always a threat for getting the fastest time on any course he steps on.
Brian Orosco – Brian Orosco is a superstar of American Ninja Warrior, has competed in Sasuke a bazillion times (disclaimer: not actual count), and is a member of Tempest Freerunning.
James McGrath – James is the patron saint of all American Ninja Warrior walkons, having walked on in American Ninja Warrior 3 after having slept in his van, and then making it all the way to the third stage in Japan for Sasuke 27 where he absolutely destroyed the course until he failed at the infamous Ultimate Cliffhanger, getting as far as any American.
Brian Kretsch – Brian is not as well known as these other four competitors, but has competed in all four American Ninja Warriors and made the semi-finals in ANW1. He trains with David Campbell and Travis Furlanic in Northern California, and anybody who has ever trained on the course with him knows he is a threat to win the whole thing. Check out our recent video interview with him.

Let me add the caveat that I don’t always know ahead of time which competitors competed where, so there is a good possibility that I am overlooking somebody terribly deserving who should be on this list! Give me a holler if you think there is a particularly egregious absence.

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Posted in American Ninja Warrior 4, Competitors, Northwest Region | No Comments »

American Ninja Warrior Semifinals

Saturday, August 13th, 2011

This past week’s episodes showed the great runs of 30 tough competitors in the semi-final round of American Ninja Warrior 3. The purpose of the semi-final round was to select the top 15 competitors who would advance to Boot Camp where they would have insane competitions to pick the top 10 athletes that would form Team America and get to go compete Ninja Warrior Japan (Sasuke 28). The semifinals utilized the opening round course of six obstacles, with modifications to a couple of them to make them more difficult (e.g. removing a bar on the Jumping Bars for only 3 bars instead of 4 covering the same distance), and then adding three more difficult obstacles on at the “end” of the opening round course. Competitors will be familiar with them by now: the dreaded Salmon Ladder, the Unstable Bridge, and the Long-Ass Cargo Net Climb (*not official name).

On what was a clearly exhausting and competitive course, the following top 15 competitors advanced, with basically completion of the Salmon Ladder being the threshold point between advancing to Boot Camp and going home. Of note…only one competitor completed the entire course, badass Ryan Stratis. Ryan’s a super-nice guy and very dedicated to his ninja-ness, and has made an amazing progression to improve every competition.

Here are the final results from the semifinal round. I was pleased to have 5 ninja buddies of mine advance to the Boot Camp round…mad props to Ryan Stratis, Chris Wilczewski, David Campbell, Travis Rosen, and Travis Furlanic.

1) Ryan Stratis – Completed Course
2) Chris Wilczewski – Completed Salmon Ladder at 1:21.5
3) Paul Kasemir – Completed Salmon Ladder at 1:23.37
4) Drew Drechsel – Completed Salmon Ladder at 1:25.89
5) David Campbell – Completed Salmon Ladder at 1:31.72
6) Brent Steffensen – Completed Salmon Ladder at 1:33.78
7) Travis Rosen – Completed Salmon Ladder at 1:34.89
8 Travis Furlanic – Completed Salmon Ladder at 1:37.92
9) Dustin Rocho – Completed Salmon Ladder at 1:46.52
10) Brian Orosco – Completed Salmon Ladder at 1:58.71
11) Brandon Douglass – Completed Salmon Ladder at 2:03.59
12) David “Young Flip” Rodriguez – Completed Salmon Ladder at 2:05.74
13) James McGrath – Completed Salmon Ladder at 2:06.44
14) Michael “Frosti” Zernow – Completed Salmon Ladder at 2:17.37
15) Alan Connealy – Completed Warped Wall at 45.2

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