Georgia Bulldog junior Chris Hill recently won his second-straight NCAA javelin title and is preparing for the USA Track and Field Championships in Eugene, Or. Hill is one of the top-rated U.S. javelin throwers heading into the World Championship-qualifying event, while consistently being able to crest the 80-meter mark. Let's see how he does at USAs and hopefully at Worlds.

What kind of workout did you do today?

Today, I just went into the weight room and got a good squat session in. I went at some heavy twos and threes. Then I just went for a 15 to 20-minute jog, trying to flush the body out, getting ready to start to get a solid week of training in before USAs.

Where are you planning your “peak” for this outdoor season?

With throwing you can set your peak and hold your peak for a while. The way we're doing it is we want to set up peak for USAs and Worlds. Sometimes you'll have times when you have a small peak and a big peak. We taper down a little bit after some hard training for a small peak...then taper down a lot, with lots of rest and a bunch of short, explosive stuff, for a big peak. What we've been doing lately is getting a peak for USAs—I kind of trained through NCAAs a little bit—and then we're going to hit some training again and try to be back up top for the World Championships.

At USAs are you going to be content with making the team...or are you expecting to win?

I'm definitely looking to be the top thrower. Looking across the board, I'm consistent at 80 or 81 meters. No one else in the country has been consistently 80. The champion from last year...he's thrown 72 meters a couple of times and the other guys in college, I feel I've really got the upper hand on them right now. They haven't hit 80 in four or five weeks. Mike Hazel, he's topping out at 77 or 78 feet at a lot of European meets right now. I'm pretty far ahead of the field right now.

You're all right with being the strong favorite?

Yeah, I like the pressure. It makes me sure that I'm not going out and partying too much, getting to bed early, getting good meals in me...not drinking too much beer. Just doing what I've got to do.

That's a weakness of yours? Drinking too much beer?

I'm a big fan of it.

What's your favorite kind of beer?

I like Newcastle. But I mix it up.

What's the latest you've heard on Breaux Greer?

I know he's qualified for the U.S. Championships, because of his 74-meter throw from last year. As of right now, I haven't really heard anything from him. I talk to him every now and then but we try to not talk about javelin stuff. As far as I know...I don't think he's entered, but who knows, he's a pretty spontaneous fella. He might show up just to turn some heads.

So, we haven't seen your best throws yet this year?

I don't think so at all. With the javelin, you want a good tailwind in light air. You want it at a good time of the day. Not too late. Around mid day on a warm day...or something like that. All those things, I haven't thrown with a tailwind all year. At Regionals and Nationals, I didn't have anything near a tailwind. I've had headwinds more than tailwinds. I think I've really got some big throws in me. I wish I had it for the NCAA Championships because I'd love to get that meet record, but I've got more time and I'll hopefully do it at bigger meets...which would be pretty sweet. Plus, my closest competitor this year has been 20 feet behind me. I'm ready for someone to push me up there.

You weren't really nervous going into NCAAs?

Going in I had that attitude like if I perform that way I know I can—which is me throwing over 80 meters on any given day, or 81—then nobody is going to touch me. I knew if I kept it under 80, that 78-79 range, I knew other guys would be licking their chops trying to get after it. If I put it out there, then it would be hard to beat. Especially because we're throwing at 10:30 at night. Everyone was pretty dead and was kind of a dull time. I was able to muscle one out there.

Did those delays mess you up?

Yeah, that was a pain, man. We were supposed to throw at 7:30 p.m., which is a great time. It's just cooling off for the day and you still can get a mid-day nap and be pretty energized. But you push it back to 10 or 10:30 p.m. and you're like, “man, I'm ready to go to bed.”

You were so close to going to the Beijing Olympics. How did that sit with you?

I was eight centimeters away from the Olympic “A” standard. If I would have had that mark, then I would have been on the team. Going into USAs, I was hoping to have some crazy instance and get a good tailwind and have everything in my favor. And last year I wasn't as strong of a thrower as I am this year. I'm a lot more consistent this year. It was really hard to accept the fact that I was so close but missed it. Knowing that I was 20 years old and I've been throwing the javelin for only four years now, I've got plenty of time ahead of me. I'll hopefully be throwing at least into my 30s. I have at least two more chances in me. There's a lot of opportunity ahead and that makes it a lot easier to swallow. If I was 33 years old and this was my last chance...then I'd be sick. Maybe this was just supposed to make me hungrier.

How do you continue to keep on improving? Do you see specifically what you need to work on?

With the javelin every thrower is going to be different. You can't compare me to the world record holder and be like, “all right, this is what Jan (Zelenzy) does and this is what Chris does. Chris needs to do what Jan does.” No. You need Chris to do it the best that Chris can. I think there's always room for improvement in my strength and in my speed and overall in my flexibility. I'm a young athlete. This is only the third year I've really trained to be a javelin thrower in college. In high school, I'd pick it up throw it and mess around at some meets. I feel like I've got all the room in the world to improve to be in the league that all those guys in the Golden League meets are throwing in. It's really exciting knowing I'm capable of such bigger things.

Why did you choose McNeese State in the first place?

Out of high school I only threw 205 feet. It's decent. It's a Regional qualifier. A lot of schools are happy to have that, but not a lot of schools are willing to put out money for that. My brother went to McNeese and he was a shot putter. The coach there, Ty Sevin, he's a real good friend of mine. He was an 80-meter javelin thrower. He threw professionally for a good, long time. I want to say eight or nine years. He knew the javelin and after talking to a few other schools and comparing what Ty knew compared to the others...it was kind of a no-brainer. If I wanted to throw far, I needed to be with Ty. He gave me a full scholarship and everything. His first love was javelin, so he's going to put the money with the javelin throwers. It really worked out really well. I grew up about 10 minutes from McNeese. I was like, “I can live at home, bank my scholarship money and go to school for free.” It was a pretty good little setup.

So, the 80-meter mark in the javelin throw is pretty much the mark for what it takes to go pro?

That's pretty much it. 80 meters is pretty respectable anywhere in the world. If you're throwing that every meet, then you can definitely make a living. The more the better. I would guess it's a 65-meter discus guy or a 21-meter shot putter. I think 80 meters is around there.

Who are some athletes that you look up to?

Being in Athens, I'd have to say Reese Hoffa. Seeing how Reese has handled his career so far, he's such a professional guy. The way he handles himself and his business. He trains hard and he trains smart. Being around him with the mentality he has—that he has the best job anyone could ever have—I know when the time comes and it's time for me to make this a career, I have great people to follow in their footsteps. Coach Babbitt too, he's been around tons of elite athletes. The kind of mentality he has when it comes to track and field, knowing that this is a career I want to pursue after college, it'll be easy knowing that I have him on my side and he has so much experience.

Do you and Reese get to share a couple of Newcastles?

(Laughs) No. No. Reese is gone quite a bit. I share those with a bunch of college buddies.

Do you miss playing football?

Man, I do. I miss the comradery of it. I played in high school and all that jazz. I stopped playing football and realized that my body hurt. Having 250-pound guys running at you and you have to hit them in the nose, man, it loses its appeal after a while. My roommate is a safety here for Georgia. He comes home and he's beat up—he actually just broke his ankle—and I'm like, “man, I hope you get better and can get back to playing...but, I am glad I'm not playing.” I get beat up enough with the javelin.

Have you ever had to deal with any injuries?

I broke my hand about six weeks ago in training. I threw my first meet March 28^th in Arizona State and came back to Athens and broke my hand doing (laughs) some box jumps...I'm a pretty clumsy fella. That put me out for about six weeks. My first meet back after the hand was SECs and that was the surprise of the season, how that panned out. Everything worked out with me winning NCAAs. I had Tommy John surgery on my elbow my first year throwing the javelin, going into my senior year of high school. With Tommy John, once it heals and it heals correctly, you're a lot stronger than you were when you started. I had a really good doctor, Dr. Andrews in Birmingham, he did my surgery and a local physical therapist did my rehab. I came back strong and since I started throwing again, man, without a doubt it's a lot stronger. I never have a question with it. I've been very fortunate injury-wise. That ended up where in the long run, it's going to help me.

You had to take one for the team, now you're stronger than you were before.

Definitely. When it happened, I didn't understand why it was happening. Now, looking back, it was a blessing. God really blessed me. He knew my plans better than I knew them and he knew I needed a stronger elbow for the future.

If you could have one meal, prepared by anyone, what would you have and who would make it?

I'd have to say I'd have a 16 oz. rib eye, prepared by my father, with some crawfish etouffee ontop of that rib eye also prepared by my father. I'm from South Louisiana, so we love that cajun cuisine. I'd be pretty full after that, but my mom would make some squash and vegetables and all that good stuff. Top it off with some homemade ice cream and maybe a beer or two would be good.

They'll make this anytime you go home?

Mom and dad will hook me up. They love to cook, so whenever they cook for me they get to eat well too. I cook a lot here in Athens. I have an apartment here and it's one of my favorite pass times. I like to have friends over and cook a good meal, grill up some steaks and stuff. It helps me make a lot of friends that way too.

How do spend your free time down there?

I love to fish. Unfortunately, I don't get to do it enough. Being from Louisiana, I don't live that far from the coast. There are a lot of lakes and everything. I love sitting by the pool and relaxing. I enjoy a good Sunday afternoon, sitting and watching some college baseball. There's not a whole lot better than that.

What's the craziest thing you've ever seen involved with the javelin?

The scariest javelin story I have was since I started throwing at college. This was at McNeese. I have a friend who went to Southeastern. When he was throwing in high school, he threw the javelin and it stuck in the ground. He was walking to pull it out and looked away. Well, he got closer than he realized and he ruptured his appendix. He walked into it and it stabbed him in the side. I never really thought twice about it and I was throwing and I walked right into it and it stabbed me right in my inner thigh, right below...the family. It scared the garbage out of me. That was going into my freshman year. Before the meets started my freshman year, I would have nightmares that I would throw the javelin and it wouldn't go far, but it would stick in the ground and I would run into it and it would stab me. I've had that dream about 15 times.