Berkeley Heights American Ninja Warrior Competes In City Finals Tonight

BERKELEY HEIGHTS, NJ — Former track star and Berkeley Heights local Anthony DeFranco is testing his limits as he competes on NBC’s “American Ninja Warrior” on Monday, Aug. 22 at 8 p.m.

“It was a huge dream of mine just to get the opportunity to run the course itself,” DeFranco, 22 told Patch. "It was incredible. Being on the course was a dream come true.”

DeFranco not old competed in the qualifying round in Philadelphia, which aired on June 27, but the rookie took home the fastest time of the night.

• Watch his qualifying run:

“I just took it one obstacle at it a time. I didn’t try to go fast. My run became extremely efficient. I had no bumps or anything,” DeFranco said. “It was very exciting getting the fastest time. I couldn’t ask for anything better.”

Now he is advancing on to the Philadelphia Finals round, which airs Aug. 22.

His background in athleticism comes from his high school career in track. The Governor Livingston High School graduate competed in track starting in his sophomore year through his senior year.

He also competed in the pole vault where he was named state champion in 2011.

From there he continued to pole vault and sprint while attending Rider University in Lawrenceville.

Graduating from Rider last year, DeFranco wanted to continue to challenge himself and began training for American Ninja Warrior.

His experience in track helped with his lower body and coordination but he needed to train his upper body.

“My whole training regiment revolves around rock climbing because I knew I needed to work on my upper body strength,” DeFranco said.

He rock climbed multiple times a week at Gravity Vault in Chatham which helped with his grip strength on the course.

DeFranco can’t reveal how he does on the course, so you will have to watch and see. But the top 15 finishers from each city finals course move on to compete in the National Finals.

No matter how DeFranco does, he plans to continue to competing on the show.

Follow DeFranco's journey on Instagram at https://www.instagram.com/defr... or Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/defra...

(Image via Anthony DeFranco)

Have a news tip? Email alexis.tarrazi@patch.com.