AUGUSTA — It’s been a whirlwind year for one of the top “ninja warriors” in the country.

Oakland native Jesse “Flex” Labreck won the women’s division in Season 13 of the popular NBC program “American Ninja Warrior,” she competed in Germany and has her hands full managing a gym in suburban Chicago, where she now lives.

Along the way she pocketed $50,000 for her performance in Season 13.

“It’s a lot to juggle, having a full-time job while getting ready for the show,” the 32-year-old Labreck said. “But you find a way to put it all together.”

She spoke earlier this month while back in Maine visiting her father, Larry Labreck, at his Augusta home. Although she has lived in Illinois since 2017, Labreck visits her family in Maine two or three times a year. With her busy schedule, she values time to slow down and be with family, she said.

“I was giving up so much stuff in order to reach my goals in Ninja,” Labreck said. “But I’ve slowly felt a need to slow down and incorporate more family time and more me time. Right now it’s just a TV show, not a professional sport, and we just get one chance at it every year.”

Competitors on “American Ninja Warrior” try to secure the quickest time in making their way through a challenging, and often punishing, obstacle course that tests their strength, agility, endurance and composure.

Labreck recently visited Germany for her first international competition. Labreck and her fiance, fellow competitor Chris DiGangi, were invited to compete in a spinoff show, “Ninja Warrior Germany.”

She trains four times a week with DiGangi and other competitors. The couple met while competing in Season 8 of “American Ninja Warrior.”

The show is now in its 14th season and Labreck has advanced to the semifinals, which will air Monday. This is her sixth year competing on the program.

When she’s not training or on an obstacle course, she enjoys being outside with friends and family.

“We do disc golf. It’s nice because it’s just so much less competitive,” she said. “Then when we’re home, I love doing anything on the water.”

Labreck is a graduate of Messalonskee High School where she was a dominant track and field athlete. At a 2008 competition in Windham she set three state records and went home with four individual titles.

She went on to attend the University of Maine where she received a degree in elementary education. Her athletic success continued there.

She left the Black Bears with four individual indoor records, four individual outdoor records and three outdoor relay records. Labreck won 12 America East Conference individual titles and was inducted into the UMaine Sports Hall of Fame in 2018.

“I learned that I loved being on a team more than I loved the sport of track, so doing it by myself wasn’t enough for me,” Labreck said. “I stopped for a year, and that’s when I found Ninja.”

David Cusano coached Labreck for three years at UMaine.

“Witnessing Jesse compete while at UMaine was truly a special experience,” said Cusano, who’s now the head track and field coach at Colby College. “Her relentless approach toward excellence is displayed in her countless American East Championship performances, school records and national level performances.”

Labreck found ninja warrior competitions while working for a time as a fourth-grade teacher in Belgrade. She had some doubts at first.

“It’s been a crazy wild ride,” she said. “I kind of thought that just because I was from a small town I couldn’t really do something like this. You just have to set your goals and be willing to put yourself out there and take the risk.”

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