I grew up playing every sport I could! Baseball was my first love until high school, where I found wrestling and earned a full ride scholarship to Lindenwood University. I quickly grew disinterested with school and after doing some uninteresting jobs for about 3 years, my competitive nature drew me to CrossFit in January of 2005. Enjoying the physical and mental rigors CrossFit brings, I sought out other challenges and decided to test myself in the Navy Seal program by enlisting in March of 2007.

Following boot camp I went immediately to Basic Underwater Demolition/SEAL training (BUD/s) in May of 2007 where I was put through some of the most mentally challenging and physically demanding training in the world.

I was fortunate (and a little lucky) to go straight through first time graduating in December of 2007 (1 of 37 out 320) and then moved on to SQT (SEAL Qualification Training) in January 2008, again making it straight through the course and earning my trident in July of 2008.

Two days after graduating, I reported to SEAL Team 3 and was immediately deployed and completed two more deployments over the next four years. While serving and in between deployments, I continued my CrossFit conditioning and had an opportunity to compete in the 2011 CrossFit games, where I placed 2nd.

While on deployment in April of 2012, I tore my ACL, PCL, MCL and went to a training command position for the last 3 ½ years of my enlistment and became a master training specialist.

With a career-ending injury and a second place finish at the games, most people might retire from the sport and reflect fondly on those accomplishments. However, I was still hungry to compete and this only fueled my fire, as I still wanted compete at the highest levels in CrossFit.

Through aggressive rehab, 14 months post-surgery I placed 7th at the 2013 CrossFit games and 4th in 2014. I’m not done yet…