Eastern Iowans Go to Vegas for ‘American Ninja Warrior’
A few Eastern Iowa natives will be back on your television screens this month.
We've been keeping you updated about the PLETHORA of Iowans who have been popping up on the popular competition show 'American Ninja Warrior' this season.
Ten total athletes from the Cedar Falls Ninja U gym initially made it onto the show.
Here is the full list of all of the athletes that trained at this well-known gym in Cedar Falls.
Scott Behrends
Behrends is the owner of Ninja U. He previously competed in season 11 of 'America Ninja Warrior'.
Chris Behrends
Scott's nephew and a Ninja U coach. He competed in the 13th season of 'America Ninja Warrior'.
Ella Sankey
This will be Sankey's rookie season! She is a freshman at UNI and has been training with the gym since the very beginning.
Jackson Twait
Twait has appeared on the show several times over the past few years. He appeared in seasons 11, 12, and 13 of the show. Last season he even hit the Mega Wall!
Jon Klippenstein
Klippenstein is another coach from the Ninja U gym. He also is a sophomore at UNI.
Drew Nester
Nester is a former coach at Ninja U and is a first-time competitor on the show.
Ben Behrends
Behrends is the youngest competitor in this Cedar Falls bunch. At 15 years old the teenager has proven himself to be a strong athlete. Not only is he the son of the Ninja U gym owner, but he is also a coach. In addition, Behrends already competed on a different form of the show when he appeared on the first season of 'America Ninja Warrior Junior.'
Check out his reaction to getting the call here.
Isaiah Barney
Barney is a coach at the Cedar Falls Ninja U and previously competed on the show during the 12th season a few years back.
Tim Gallenbeck
Gallenback is a resident of Marion, but trains in Cedar Falls. One of the newer gym-goers, the Marion man actually just started giving Ninja U a try when he saw the Iowa ninjas competing on the show last year.
Levi Enright
A Waverly native who competed on the show last year, and got a redemption early on this season. Enright is also a coach at Ninja U and competed on the 13th season of the show. The young man even attempted to break a world record for doing the most pull-ups in 24 hours.
Several of these competitors are back again! This time they're going to be working their tails off in Vegas.
Four of these athletes will be featured on an upcoming episode of the show. After doing so well in their previous appearances this season, they've qualified to compete in the Vegas Finals.
Here are the four young men who will be competing in the Vegas finals:
- Chris Behrends, who ended up getting the fastest time in his night of competition at the qualifiers.
- Drew Nester
- Jackson Twait
- Levi Enright, scaled the 'Mega Wall' and won $10,000. You can read more about his attempt at redemption here.
These athletes will be featured on the August 15th episode of the hit competition show on NBC.