Our Coaching Staff
Chris Brinkworth
Erin Elder
Dr
Paul Ellison
Emily Lesser
Eric Dols
Chris has been helping young throwers in the Twin Cities for over 15 years. He is viewed by his peers as one of the best glide coaches in Minnesota. He has worked with some of the areas top high school coaches and athletes including current and former state record holders in the shot put. A former Big Ten champion and All-American in both the shot put and discus for the University of Minnesota, Chris trained under Lynne and Colin Anderson. Chis is a USATF Level 1 coach.
Erin has 20+ years coaching the throws at both the High School and NCAA Division II level. In that time he has coached 4 MN State Champions (Girls Disc 2007, 2008, 2010 and Boys Shot 2015). He coached Worthington native Jordon Bents to both the NCAA Div. II Indoor and Outdoor National Meets. At Windom HS. He has coached numerous conference, Section Champions, and has coached all but one of the athletes who holds the current school records in boys and girls Shot and Disc. As the throws coach at the University of Sioux Falls (2010-2014), he coached the school record holders in all of the following events: Men's and Women's Weight Throw, Men's Indoor and Outdoor Shot, Men's and Women's Discus, Men's and Women's Hammer. Erin coached 14 athletes at USF who earned the All Northern Sun Conference award.
Paul has been a successful throws coach at the high school level for 16 years. In that time, he has coached over 30 state entrants, 16 all state athletes, and 4 state championships. Of the 40 athletes on the Armstrong High School Top Ten lists for girls and boys shot put and discus, Paul has coached 26 of them. He has coached all four of the school record holders. His throwers hold three of the four of the section 6AA throwing records. In 2015, Paul was the coach of the AAU shot put national champion. He has had the opportunity to work with and learn from two of Minnesota's all-time great coaches (Lynne Anderson and Dick Mulkern). Paul is the founder and director of Minnesota throw coach. Mnthrowcoach athletes have dominated the Minnesota state tournament. In the last four years mnthrowcoach have helped over 87 athletes qualify for the state tournament, 52 All state performances and has help develop 12 state champions. Paul is a USATF Level 1 certified coach.
Emily is new to coaching with MNthrows as of November 2017. Emily graduated from North Dakota State University in 2015, where she threw the shotput 54' and the hammer over 60 meteres. She was a 4x champion in The Summit League and 2x participant in NCAA West Regionals while training under Justin St. Clair. Emily has a Doctorate of Physical Therapy. She has a passion for assisting the athletic development of athletes outside of the ring as well as coaching rotational athletes in the ring. Emily will take charge of the Mnthrowcoach Athletic Development Program.
Eric is from Prior Lake MN. There he was a three time All State track and field athlete and is top 10 all time in MN history, for the shot put. Eric attends Hamline University, majoring in Chemistry and minoring in Psychology. After graduation he will seek a Masters in Sports Psycology. Eric holds the school record at Hamline in the hammer throw of 60.99 meters, is a three time MIAC champion and a 6 time All American (4 times in the shot put, once in the weight throw and once in the hammer throw) .