Introducing the CrossFit Exemplify Morris Team
Meet the fitness experts ready to help you achieve your fitness goals and your potential.
Meet The Team
Ryan Shank
Owner
My journey with fitness started when my wife signed up for CrossFit. I realized that I was going to quickly be passed up if I didn't keep up. Fast forward 4 years, I became a coach and my life has been forever changed. I believe that one of my missions in life is helping people.
Katie Shank
Owner
I started CrossFit because I wanted to lose weight, but I never could have imagined where this journey would take me! What started as a goal to lose weight and be “skinny” turned into finding out that I could be athletic and I could be strong.
The longer I stuck with it, the more I wanted to see what my true capacity was. I can’t say when the switch happened, all I know is that fitness turned from something I thought was a chore to something I looked forward to and truly enhanced my life. Nothing feels better than finally mastering a new skill or improving that tiny detail in a lift that you worked so hard on for months. Coaching allows me to give everyday people the opportunity to change their perspective and realize that they too are athletes.
Heather Philips
Coach
My journey with fitness started on myself. I never realized the discipline one has to have to achieve goals. That led me to the discovery that I wanted to help everyone through training and nutrition.
I found my love for Crossfit in 2016 when I was invited to compete in the “CrossFit Open”. I was so pumped. From there I continued to find my passion in the whole sport. I’ve done marathons, powerlifting, and bodybuilding but nothing else has given me the pleasure in fitness like CrossFit. From there I pulled the trigger and signed up to get my level-1 certificate. To this day, being able to coach what I love, watching athletes reach their full potential, and doing things they never thought they’d do is such a joy and accomplishment. The community isn’t just “people”, they have become my family. I look forward to each and every day saying “I get to do this, this is my job!” I wouldn’t change it for anything.
Josh Miner
Coach
I became a coach because of the joy it brought me. When I first started CrossFit, the coaches inspired and pushed me past whatever I thought was possible! It's made me so much happier and healthier and literally saved my life.
I wanted to help pass along that happiness and healthiness to all of the athletes, and to help them get out of it what I tried to! The discipline, the family, the pride you feel when you hit that PR or learn that new movement, it just fills you with happiness. I hope to pass that along to all of the athletes every time I coach, with just a hint of immaturity and fun! I hope everyone gets out of it what I did, and I can’t thank everyone enough for the opportunity to be a part of it!
Emiley Steffes
Coach
I started my crossfit journey in 2015 when I wanted to take a break from running marathons. I quickly realized how beneficial crossfit was to my health both physically and mentally.
Jason Steffes
Coach
I have been doing CrossFit for 10 years and coaching for 5 years. As a coach, I love watching athletes push themselves, exceeding what they thought was their fitness limit and achieving new heights!
Mel Zierman
Coach
I have been in the CrossFit community for 11 years and coaching CrossFit for 8 years. I have a true passion for coaching and teaching athletes of all age's. My mission and goal is to help build confidence through good movement and hard work.
Recognizing and celebrating the wins no matter how big or small! 1% better every day. Do hard things. Outside of fitness I am a wife, a mother and work full time. I cherish every moment I can with my family (those kids grow way too fast). You can usually find training at the gym in between work and kids activities.
Greg Punke
Coach
I have been doing CrossFit for 10 years and coaching for 9 years. As a coach, I love watching athletes push past what they thought was their limit. It has made me so much happier since I started. I want to pass that along every time I coach. I want everyone to have the best part of their day during my classes.
Jessica Brelje
Master’s Coach
I heard of Crossfit a long time ago, but didn't find it personally until I joined CFX in 2021, and haven't looked back! I have a background of 23 years as a physical therapist, multi-day marathon running and yoga.
Crossfit reignited a passion for helping those over 55 get healthier, fitter, and have an improved quality of life. In May 2022, I earned my Crossfit L1 certification. The Master’s class was developed and I began coaching in June of 2022. It is rewarding to use therapy knowledge to help members scale and stay safe in class as well as to discuss injury prevention, mobility and health. I love the energy of the class members at CFX and each and every one helps motivate me to be a better athlete and coach. It is amazing to see the improvements my class members have had and continue to make! It is truly an honor to be part of the CFX coaching team.
Andrea Peterson-Kreinbrink
Pregnancy/Postpartum Coach
I’m Andrea and I am the pregnancy and post-partum coach at CrossFit Exemplify. I have been doing CrossFit since 2018 and my spark for coaching, especially for the pre and postnatal demographic, started after I had my baby in 2021.
During my pregnancy, I had difficulty keeping up with exercise due to hyperemesis but I found getting back into exercise post-partum was even more difficult. I had a lot of hip and pelvic pain and found that even walking was very challenging. I turned to google and tried to find anyone that could give me some insight on how to heal and rebuild after a baby. Not only was there so much conflicting information but so much misinformation which left me very frustrated and still in pain. So I finally went through pelvic floor physical therapy and that’s when the fire was lit. Erin, my therapist, helped me not only become pain free but become stronger than I ever was before a baby. She took the time to explain the why and how to rebuild the right way. After those sessions I was determined to find a way to help women by working together with physical therapists and CrossFit. So I first got certified at a personal trainer with NASM with a specialization in women’s fitness and then I was certified as a pregnancy and post-partum athleticism coach through Brianna Battles. Through each of these certifications, I can finally bring so much much needed information to a very forgotten about demographic. All women deserve to be there best selves and that’s what I am here for. I want to give good quality information and guidance so every woman has the opportunity to reach her goals and aspirations. I am here to help see those goals into reality while designing workouts that fit your needs at the present time. Women are so adaptable and your fitness program should be too.
“Athleticism does not end when motherhood begins” -Brianna Battles
Gracie Steffes
Kid’s Coach
I was first introduced to CrossFit when I was 10 years old. I started in the kids CrossFit class, then moved up to the teens class, and then to the adult classes. Coaching CrossFit has been something I have wanted to do since I was in the kids class.
