Jessie Graff slays 'American Ninja Warrior' finals course, becomes first woman to complete Stage 1

— -- The first night of the "American Ninja Warrior" national finals in Las Vegas did not disappoint. A newly revamped Stage 1 course proved to be quite the difficult task as only eight of the 45 to run the course completed it. Unlike city competitions, in Vegas, ninjas have to hit the buzzer to move on. 

The star of the night was undoubtedly Jessie Graff, who became the first woman to complete Stage 1. She made history in style, hitting the buzzer with 12 seconds left on the clock, placing fourth on the night. That put her ahead of top ninjas like Grant McCartney and Flip Rodriguez.

It was a monumental moment. So much so, that even Lego is celebrating!

espnW caught up with Graff to talk about her historic run and what had her nervous about the course ("everything").

espnW: What was going through your mind as you approached the starting platform?

Jessie Graff: Throughout the night, anytime I caught myself thinking about the magnitude of how my life might change if I completed the course, I would immediately redirect my focus to calculating and memorizing the strategies for each specific obstacle. I attack each one, one at a time, and in order, so walking up to the platform, I was thinking about the first obstacle: getting all of the dust off of my shoes before the countdown starts. Slippery shoes will ruin a good Jumping Spider or Warped Wall run, and there's no time to clean your shoes once the timer starts. But waiting for the countdown, my mind was on exactly where I wanted to put my feet on Snake Run. There were so many different ways to approach it, the fastest ways being the riskiest. I committed to the safest route, because I'd seen a lot of extremely strong competitors fall using the slightly more aggressive approach.

espnW: What worried you most about the course?