The Staff of the Sports Institute
Your athletic training facility

The staff at the Sports Institute are a wide variety of professionals from various fields to meet Southern Minnesota's athlete's athletic training needs. The staff at the Sports Institute consists of professional trainers and coaches to help you increase your athletic performance level through training at the Sports Institute in Mankato.

Craig Fritz Co-Owner Strength Performance Coach Craig is the Performance Director as well as Strength Coach at the Sports Institute. With a Bachelors Degree in Health Science, Fritz is also a Certified Trainer through the American Council of Exercise. Fritz is also a Certified Strength Coach through the National Strength and Conditioning Association. Craig’s accomplishments are many. He played baseball for Bethany Lutheran College for two years. He then played baseball at the University of Northern Iowa for two years. Next was his career in professional baseball in Moosejaw Saskatchewan, Canada . Finally, Fritz is currently in his ninth year playing for the Mankato Twins baseball team. Craig is also owner of Fritz Sports Performance, providing area schools with strength and conditioning camps. Craig’s past experience with a variety of high school prospects, college athletes, and professionals makes him a well-rounded trainer and an asset to the Sports Institute. Craig is a 1991 graduate of Cleveland, MN high school, 1998 graduate of Mankato State University and he and his wife Sherri live in LeSueur and have two children, Olivia and Rhyan.  Jody Lunz  Director of Softball Academy Jody played 2 years on Minnesota ’s All State Team. She was St. Paul Pioneer Press’ Player of the Year. She was a four-year starter for the University of New Mexico and played on the All Conference WAC Team as well as the SW Region All Region Team. In high school, she was one of two players in the nation invited to the Pan American Games Tryouts. Lunz was the head softball coach at Albuquerque Academy for 10 years and is a four-time conference Coach of the Year. Lunz is now the Assistant Softball Coach at Minnesota State University – Mankato.  Kent Kalm Pre-Testing for all athletes Athletic Performance Coach Kalm attended MSU as an undergraduate in the early 1970s. With the help of then football coach John Coatta, Kalm spent two summers in training camp with the NFL's Houston Oilers, tending to the sore muscles of players such as Dan Pastorini and Earl Campbell. Upon graduation in 1974, Kalm went to the University of Arizona to start work on his masters, but didn't last a full semester. While there he got a call from St. Cloud saying the fledging athletic training program needed somebody to run the show, so Kalm returned to Minnesota and finished up his master's degree at SCSU by 1976. A short time later, Kalm headed to the University of Utah on an unpaid leave to get his doctorate and then returned to St. Cloud State in 1979. While at SCSU he developed an athletic training minor before Graham asked him to return to Mankato and work alongside him. At Minnesota State, Kalm developed a graduate level sports training track and helped put together an undergraduate athletic training major. He was a founding member of the MATA and has served as both president and president elect. Kalm was nominated for the MATA Hall of Fame by Pat Sexton, MSU's current director of athletic training education.  Kevin Dixon Athletic Performance Coach Growing up in burnsville, Dixon played mostly baseball and hockey. He continued playing both baseball and hockey through high school at Burnsville High School and was all conference both junior and senior year along with all-metro in baseball his senior year. He played for three years at Minnesota State University - Mankato, starting as a freshman at catcher before getting hurt and redshirting. Dixon is still the home run record holder at Minnesota State University - Mankato with 18. He was all-conference and all-region his sophomore year at MSU. He hit and pitched for the Mankato Moondogs in 2004. Dixon has been invited twice to Cleveland's Fall Instructional League in Florida. He was a Northwoods League All-Star as a pitcher and winner of the Northwoods League Home Run Derby. Among Dixon's other accomplishments, he was drafted in the 5th round of the 2005 MLB Draft. He then became a member of the Mahoning Valley Scrappers (Short-Season A) in 2005 and then Lake County Captains (Low A) and Kinston Indians (Advanced A) in 2006. Dixon recently concluded his season with the Kinston Indians for 2007. Shane Bowyer  Co-Owner Speed has always been an interest of Shane Bowyer, which is one of the main reasons for opening the Sports Institute. Bowyer brings 12 years of collegiate coaching to the SI. He was an All-NCC baseball player and two-time CoSIDA player at Minnesota State University . Following his playing career, Bowyer was an assistant at Indiana State   University and MSU under his father Dean Bowyer. In 1995 Shane was the head coach at Marycrest International University in Davenport, Iowa where he led the Eagles to their best winning season. Bowyer then was the head coach at Lindenwood University in St. Louis for three years. He coached two All-Americans and led the squad to a school record 40-13 record. That season the squad finished the year ranked in the top eight in the nation in both hitting and fielding and stole more than 100 bases. Bowyer returned to Mankato in 1999 to help start a Northwoods League franchise (now Mankato Moondogs). In the first two years he was both General Manager and head coach. Bowyer was also sponsored by the Minnesota Twins to participated in the Major League Baseball Scouting School. Bowyer also teaches management in the College of Business at Minnesota State University, Mankato.  Shane is a graduate of Mankato Loyola and he and his wife Laura have two children, Austin (9) and Gabrielle (7).   Dean Bowyer  SI Baseball Director  During Bowyer’s 30-year tenure as MSU’s coach, the Mavericks have captured a total of 20 league championships - three when MSU was in the Northern Intercollegiate Conference (NIC) and an incredible 17 in the North Central. As mentioned, MSU has made it to the NCAA post-season party 19 times under Bowyer, and three of those teams made it all the way to the NCAA Division II College World Series. The most recent CWS trip came in 1986 when the Mavericks racked up a 35-15 won-loss mark and finished fourth at the Series. Other CWS teams for MSU and Bowyer were in 1980, when the Mavericks took third, and in 1979, when MSU went 26-22-1 and was ranked seventh in the nation. Dean was inducted into American Baseball Coaches Association Hall of Fame in January of 2006. Nate Ries & Michael Franks  Hockey Coaches Nate and Michael are former Junior hockey players and train hockey athletes at SI. Jeremy Essler  Athletic Performance Coach Jeremy is a Certified Personal Trainer at SI. Interns: Andy Peterson Sports Marketing/Management  Andy is a senior at Minnesota State University, Mankato working towards his bachelor's degree in Recreation, Parks, and Leisure Services with a minor in business management. Andy played baseball for Edina Senior High School, and is currently an umpire for the Mankato Area Youth Baseball Association.  Emily Sawyer Excercise Science  Emily is a senior at Minnesota State University, Mankato working towards her bachelor's degree in both Excercise Science and Spanish. Emily was a member of MSU Mavericks soccer from 2004-2008. She is first aid and CPR certified.     Layla Elmajri Excercise Science  Layla is a senior at Minnesota State University, Mankato working towards her bachelor's degree in Excercise Science and pre-physical therapy. Layla is a member of the MSU Mavericks soccer team. She is first aid, CPR and AED certified.   Michael Hull Excercise Science Michael is a senior at Minnesota State University, Mankato working towards his bachelor's degree in Excercise Science as well as minors in coaching and sports medicine. Michael's focus at the SI is volleyball training. He was named to the 2007 and 2008 Northern Intercollegiate Volleyball Conference - All conference first team. Micheal will be graduating in the Fall of 2008.