A couple of Minnesota women dominated Ninja Warrior last night
Five women who competed on American Ninja Warrior are going to the Kansas City finals. And two of them are from Minnesota.
Sarah Schoback and Sara Heesen both qualified for the next round thanks to their performance in the qualifiers that aired Monday night.
Schoback was the top female finisher, according to American Ninja Warrior Nation.
She goes by Ninja of the North (great nickname), and owns Obstacle Academy in Edina. On Monday's episode, she explains the closest gym before was an hour away – so she made her own, becoming the first mom in the country to open a ninja gym.
She actually has some very close calls early on in Monday's episode, in which she gets plenty of air time. But we won't spoil how far she gets.
Heesen, as we told you earlier this week, trains at the Eden Prairie gym Conquer Ninja Warrior, and had to overcome a Lyme disease diagnosis to compete on the show. She finished fifth among the female obstacle course runners.
NBC showed a short snippet of "Beastin' Heesen" during the episode,
You can watch both on NBC.com. Schoback is during the second segment, starting about 15 minutes in, while Heesen is at about the 34-minute mark.
2 Minnesota men also make it
Three other Minnesotans competed, with the Ninja Warrior hosts calling the state a hotbed recently for competitors. Two of the men cracked the top 30 to make the finals.
One was Hunter Guerard, who goes by The Gecko. He placed 13th, and actually trains and coaches at Schoback's Obstacle Academy:
The other is Eric Middleton. He's been a local researcher at the University of Minnesota North Central Research and Outreach Center, the Grand Rapids Herald-Review reported, and has tried out before. He placed 17th.
The Kansas City finals will take place Aug. 14.
