Saturday, June 30th, 2012Here is a list of the 90 national finalists in American Ninja Warrior 4 who advanced to Las Vegas to compete on the Mt. Midoriyama replica uber-course that was built there. There will be 10 wildcards added to these 90 competitors to make an even 100 runners, which is the traditional number that competed in the original Ninja Warrior Japan (Sasuke) for many years. The identity of these wildcards will be revealed when the show airs.
15 finalists from each of the 6 regions (listed below in order of finish) fought their way through their respective regional rounds and then the regional finals to advance to the first finals of American Ninja Warrior held in the US. Mad props to all these competitors, and hit LIKE to applaud them and share this list to spread the word of their awesomeness!
Southwest
Evan Dollard
Jesse La Flair
Kole Stevens
Remi Bakkar
Brent Steffenson
Chad Simpson
Derek Nakamoto
Dorian Cedars
Dan Mast
Paul Darnell
Sedderick Bassett
Ryan Thompson
Dylan Curry
Ronnie Shalvis Jr
Michael “Frosti” Zernow
Midwest
Matthew Derouen
Andrew Karsen
Jack Morgan
Stephen Volcko
Arthur Skov
Michael Silenzi
Nick ‘Lovin’ Stephforn
Johnathan Morin
Scott Robinson
Will Dodd
Joshua Grant
Andrew Lowes
Nate Aye
Nick Kostner
Cade Halada
Northeast
Tim Shieff
Luis Moco
Dan Galiczynski
Chris Wilczewski
Elet Hall
Travis Graves
Jesse Villareal
Christopher DiGangi
Andrew Wood
Danny Johnson
Bradley Smith Jr.
Phillip Pirollo
John Sapinoso
Matt Mings
Michael Pericoloso
Northwest
James McGrath
Travis Furlanic
David Campbell
Sean Noble
Kyle Cochrane
Justin Sweeney
Josh Horsley
Nathan Sausedo
Justin Walcker
J.B. Douglas
Kevan Reoli
Ben Snead
Brian Kretsch
Gunner Bahn
Patrick McGrath
Midsouth
Paul Kasemir
Brandon Douglass
Brian Arnold
Jaret Salas
Kevin Klein
Sat Khalsa
Ahmed Toure
Josh Lobeck
Lorin Ball
Jake Smith
Bob Pondrom
Nathaniel Spencer
James Wyatt
Tremayne Dortch
Alan Connealy
Southeast
David “Flip” Rodriguez
Drew Dreschel
Travis Rosen
Jared “J.J.” Woods
Michael Ekhert
Bull Bullard
Sean Morris
William Brown
Thomas Hall
Brendan Kelly
Andy Taylor
Adam Grossman
Niko Bogucki
Tony Reddick
Paul O’Connor
Tags:Adam Grossman, Ahmed Toure, Alan Connealy, Andrew Karsen, Andrew Lowes, Andrew Wood, Andy Taylor, Arthur, Ben Snead, Bob Pondrom, Bradley Smith Jr, Brandon Douglass, Brendan Kelly, Brent Steffensen, Brian Arnold, Brian Kretsch, Bull Bullard, Cade Halada, Chad Simpson, Chris Wilczewski, Christopher DiGangi, Dan Galiczynski, Dan Mast, Danny Johnson, David "Young Flip" Rodriguez, David Campbell, Derek Nakamoto, Dorian Cedars, Drew Drechsel, Dylan Curry, Elet Hall, Evan "Rocket" Dollard, Gunner Bahn, J.B. Douglas, Jack Morgan, Jake Smith, James McGrath, James Wyatt, Jared JJ Woods, Jaret Salas, Jesse La Flair, Jesse Villareal, John Sapinoso, Johnathan Morin, Josh Horsley, Josh Lobeck, Joshua Grant, Justin Sweeney, Justin Walcker, Kevan Reoli, Kevin Klein, Kole Stevens, Kyle Cochrane, Lorin Ball, Luis Moco, Matt Mings, Matthew Derouen, Michael "Frosti" Zernow, Michael Ekhert, Michael Pericoloso, Michael Silenzi, Nate Aye, Nathan Sausedo, Nathaniel Spencer, Nick 'Lovin' Stephforn, Nick Kostner, Niko Bogucki, Patrick McGrath, Paul Darnell, Paul Kasemir, Paul O'Connor, Remi Bakkar, Ronnie Shalvis Jr, Ryan Thompson, Sat Khalsa, Scott Robinson, Sean Mo, Sean Noble, Sedderick Bassett, Skov, Steve Volko, Thomas Hall, Tim "Livewire" Shieff, Tony Reddick, Travis Furlanic, Travis Graves, Travis Rosen, Tremayne Dortch, Will Dodd, William Brown
Posted in American Ninja Warrior 4, Competitors, Midsouth Region, Midwest Region, Northeast Region, Northwest Region, Southeast Region, Southwest Region | 10 Comments »
Sunday, June 17th, 2012The “Mid-South” region, also previously called “South Central”, is on deck tonight on G4 and tomorrow (Monday) on NBC. There are a number of amazing athletes and veteran competitors in this tough region, quite a number of them from the dominant APEX Movement pack out of Colorado.
Jake “Love” Smith – Finalist from American Ninja Warrior 3, where he failed on the double salmon ladder in Japan, and professional free-runner who also competed in G4’s great Jump City: Seattle parkour/freerunning competition, Jake makes things look easy that are hard. A true threat to win it all. One of many APEX competitors in this region.
Paul Kasemir – Paul is a two-time American Ninja Warrior finalist, and competed in Sasuke (Ninja Warrior Japan) two times, reaching the third stage both times. Paul is ridiculously smooth and fast, and like his team-mate Jake Smith is one of the handful of competitors who are a threat to take down the $500k on top of Mt Midoriyama Las Vegas.
Jereme Sanders – Jereme is an icon in the parkour community having been a member of The Tribe, widely recognized as America’s first parkour team, and has competed in multiple seasons of American Ninja Warrior and in the single season of Jump City: Seattle. Jereme has a ton of experience attacking obstacles in his life, and a day on the course of American Ninja Warrior is just another day of play for him, so he’s a big threat to go deep out of the Mid South region.
Jaret Salas – Jaret is a first-timer to American Ninja Warrior, but I’ve been training with him for the last year and the dude is sick. Incredibly strong, agile, well-conditioned athlete that might just come out of nowhere and shock everybody. 505 in the house!
Josh Kronberg – Josh is a member of our unofficial “Middle-Aged Ninja Dads Club” of competitors. He’s a very dedicated competitor, and just barely missed advancing to the semi-finals in American Ninja Warrior 3. He’s got a great obstacle course in his backyard that he’s built and he’s trained on (including letting me play on it a few times), and he’s a very focused strong athlete with a lot of practical experience under his belt. Look for him to go far. Check out the competitor interview he gave me earlier. 505 in the house!
Risa Scott – One of the top women of American Ninja Warrior, and another amazing competitor from Team Apex, I can’t even do the Human Flag in my imagination as long as Risa can do it in real life (YouTube it if you don’t believe me). Risa is a threat to become the first woman to complete the opening stage in American Ninja Warrior.
Old Men of Austin – Interestingly enough, two of the strongest older competitors in all of American Ninja Warrior both hail out of Austin: Jason Bischoff and Craig Stiles, ages 44 and 48 respectively. They’ll be holding it down for the middle-aged guys in the Mid South!
Chris Okruhlik – Check out the interview and bio in the post below for more info on Chris! Check out his competitor interview.
As always, there are many deserving competitors that I’m neglecting here…forgive me.
Tags:Christian Okruhlik, Jake Smith, Jaret Salas, Jason Bischoff, Jereme Sanders, Josh Kronberg, Paul Kasemir, Risa Scott, Team Apex
Posted in American Ninja Warrior 4, Competitors, Midsouth Region | No Comments »
Thursday, March 15th, 2012Mission accomplished! After a few metaphorical obstacles getting an opportunity to participate, as enumerated in my recent posts, I got to attack literal obstacles yesterday as I competed in the Midwest region in American Ninja Warrior 4 in Dallas (I went to the University of Wisconsin and lived in Madison for a number of years…Go Badgers!). I was lunatic #1 lined up in the walkon queue when I arrived about 4:30 am and used a jedi mind trick to get past one of the security guards who had turned away a few earlier arrivals who wanted into the Cotton Bowl complex to line up themselves.
These are not the droids you are looking for.
In the end most walkons got to compete, but being the first guy in line no doubt increased my chances. A couple of the production folks seemed to expect me, almost certainly due to the efforts by many of my ninja brothers to help me out by mentioning my plight to folks they knew in casting and production, and just a short half hour after I finally realized that I was going to get a chance to actually compete I stood at the starting line as just the fifth guy to attack the course in Dallas. I could scarcely believe that it was happening as they counted down 5-4-3-2-1 to start my run!
I can’t share how I did…understandably production wants total secrecy to create more suspense for the show this summer (they did say that I could share that I in fact competed), but it was an honor as always to step onto the course and compete with (not against, with) so many amazing athletes and people. I had a blast seeing my fellow ninja brothers and sisters…I love running the course, but the camaraderie of the competitors is the most amazing element of the experience. Many people wished me luck in getting to compete, and that fortified my will to make it happen, but I wanted to extend heartfelt special thanks to certain people who worked hard to make it happen by spreading the word and talking to people on my behalf like Brian Corcoran, Arsenette, David Gabel, Chris Okruhlik, Thomas “Texas Ninja”, Jaret Salas, and Ryoga Vee (forgive me if I forgot anybody who took specific actions on my behalf…I still have love for you!). Thank you everybody for helping me make this happen, it was an emotional few days traveling to Dallas with my family not knowing if I would get a chance to compete, but the love and support of many readers, fans and fellow competitors made me more determined to make it happen and sweetened the feeling when I humbly stepped on the course to give it my best!
Tags:Arsenette, Brian Corcoran, Chris Okruhlik, David Gabel, Jaret Salas, Ryoga Vee, Thomas "Texas Ninja"
Posted in American Ninja Warrior 4, Getting In, Midwest Region, The Dream | 8 Comments »