Akshara Pappu is 15 years old, stands 5 feet 1 inch tall, and just qualified for the national finals of American Ninja Warrior on her very first attempt.

The Newton resident and Brimmer and May School student completed the Eastern Regional Finals course in 51.62 seconds during the Season 18 competition filmed in Las Vegas in May, finishing 13th and earning a spot among the finalists vying for a $250,000 grand prize, according to NBC's episode guide. The national finals episodes have not yet aired.

Pappu's path to network television started at age six, when her kindergarten teacher noticed she was climbing everything in sight. Her first coach was Nathan Brosey, founder of the formerly Newton-based gym Action Athletics, who was himself an American Ninja Warrior contestant, the Newton Beacon reported Thursday, July 30.

"Being able to see where I could get to was definitely something that pushed me forward," Pappu told the Beacon, reflecting on watching her coaches compete on the show she dreamed of joining.

She now trains in Fall River with a coaching staff made up of active ANW competitors. One of the biggest challenges for the 5-foot-1 athlete: the warped wall, a curved surface standing 14.5 feet high. She spent months training specifically to scale it.

Season 18 introduced a three-lane racing format for the regional finals, pitting competitors head-to-head rather than running solo timed courses. Pappu's Eastern Regional Finals race, which aired Monday, July 13, included her training teammate Addy Herman, also from Massachusetts, who finished 12th. Both advanced.

Pappu's spring semester at Brimmer and May, the Chestnut Hill school where she's a student, overlapped with the two-week Las Vegas filming schedule. Her teachers sent lessons in advance and then tuned in as episodes aired.

Off the course, Pappu keeps bees. She told the Beacon it gives her something separate from school and sport to focus on, calling it "not a normal thing to do, especially in a city like Newton."

When she first got the call to compete, Pappu said, she never expected to make it as far as the national finals. "Just overcoming the fear of all the people watching and just dialing in and running my own course really helped," she said.

How to watch: American Ninja Warrior Season 18 airs Mondays at 9 p.m. ET on NBC, with episodes streaming the next day on Peacock. The national finals are expected in the coming weeks.