Case Western Reserve University rising sophomore Karen Potts, a member of the CWRU softball team, advanced to the semifinals of Season 16 of American Ninja Warrior after her performance in the qualifier aired on Monday night.

Potts advanced the furthest of the women competitors at the seventh qualifier, which aired as part of the fourth episode of the season. She reached the fifth of six obstacles on the course to punch her ticket to the Los Angeles semifinals which will be broadcast on NBC and streamed on Peacock later in the summer.

Potts quickly jumped on the pole vault, clearing the first obstacle after a short climb. At the second section, Reel to Reel, she glided down the first reel before lunging forward and up onto the second reel. After a few kicks, Potts used her momentum to drop down onto the platform.

A few steps later, she reached the Dangerous Waters challenge, consisting of three thin platforms on horizontally rotating hinges with the first and third moving to the left and the second moving to the right. Getting a running start, Potts zoomed through the platforms, needing just one step on each to clear the obstacle.

The fourth obstacle, Duck Duck Goose, was next. The challenging hanging sequence had eliminated all previous female competitors at the qualifier and had only been cleared by six of the male competitors in the episode. Potts jumped from a trampoline onto the first trapezoidal hold and used three momentum adding swings to leap onto the second hexagonal hold. Gripping the duck-shaped apparatus, she used the same trick to reach the third hold, a smaller cylinder with horizontal grips. Though Potts struggled to start her initial kicks, she was able to gain enough momentum to drop onto the platform and reach the fifth obstacle.

The penultimate challenge, and final one before the famous Warped Wall, was called Jawbreakers. To clear the obstacle, Potts needed to jump three horizontal bars onto three differently angled holds. She jumped onto the first bar and moved it with her into the first hold. After dropping down onto the second bar, Potts used three swings to attempt to bring it onto the second hold. However, she was unable to secure either latch on the hold, and she fell into the water, ending her run.

This is Potts' second appearance on American Ninja Warrior. She reached the finals in Las Vegas during season 14 of the show.

During the softball season, Potts was named the University Athletic Association Rookie of the Year, helping the Spartans reach the national finals of the NCAA Division III Softball Championship for the second time in program history. The first-year student from North Potomac, Maryland, started all 49 games at shortstop for CWRU, batting .419 with eight home runs and 26 stolen bases.