Mountain Grove’s Cayleb Dowden announced this past week that he has been selected to compete for the fourth time on the popular NBC television show, “American Ninja Warrior.” He said he received the Season 14 notification by email at 6 a.m. on Jan. 25.
“I am very happy to get another chance on the course,” said the “Wood Chuckin’ Ninja.
“I am lucky to have a great wife by my side to support me along with great family, friends and an amazing hometown to cheer me on.”
Dowden said he will compete in the qualifying round sometime between March 20-24 in San Antonio, Texas.
Last year, Dowden qualified for the semifinals after taking 11th place in the first round.
During that episode, the fourth generation dairy farmer had the family farm in the Manes area featured with a video package. The feature provided national attention for both dairy farming and Mountain Grove.
In the semifinals, he fell on the second obstacle, “Lunatic Ledges,” on the course in Los Angeles, Calif. Dowden said he’s not had much time to train as of yet, but he does plan to work more on swinging in the air while also doing a lot of core strength workouts.
“I have a 14’ rope that I can climb five times up and down without touching the ground, along with some ledge pull ups,” Dowden noted. “I am training on my peg board, and I am also working on foot coordination by running over split firewood and across PVC pipes. For this year, my plan is to remember the mistakes I made last year and not make them this year.”
