By Jack Pfiefer // Photo by Rick Russell

EUGENE, Ore. – A year ago here at the NCAA Championships, Julia Ratcliffe, a sophomore hammer thrower from New Zealand, was on the spot to maintain an unusual streak at her school, Princeton University.

The Tigers had won an NCAA title – either individual or team, in any sport – for 43 consecutive years, a streak unmatched by any other school. Under the pressure of such a legacy, Ratcliffe came through and won the 2014 hammer title, also becoming the first female NCAA champion in track and field in school history.

Turn the calendar a year, and here we go again: Princeton has failed to win any other championships in the 2014-15 school year. It’s up to Julia again.

This year she has a new, rookie coach, and she is not even considered the favorite this season, as two rival throwers have thrown farther this year.

“I prefer being the underdog,” said Ratcliffe, whose seasonal best of 224-10 trails Daina Levy (226-5) of Kansas and Brooke Pleger (228-9) of Bowling Green.

The new coach is Jeff Milliron, a 24-year-old volunteer coach in his first year coaching the women’s throwing events as well as helping with strength and conditioning in the women’s events at Princeton.

“I was looking at coaching jobs” after graduating from Southeastern Louisiana, where he was a discus and hammer thrower, Milliron said. Brian Mondschein, an assistant at Princeton, had been Milliron’s coach for one season at Southeastern. They got back in touch, and a deal was struck.

“Princeton reminds me of home, being back in the Northeast,” said Milliron, who grew up in Middleburgh, N.Y., a small community in Schoharie County, northwest of Albany. In high school he did the pentathlon, high jump, discus, 4x4, a little of everything. Then he moved to Louisiana and began to focus on the throwing events. “My freshman year I gained a lot of weight. I went from 180 pounds to 260.”

Milliron is learning on the job. “Julia’s also got her dad,” he said. Julia’s father, who lives in New Zealand, reviews his daughter’s performances by video online, critiques them and designs her workouts. /JP/

 Watch our interview with Julia here: armory.tf/1IJMcSJ

Watch our interview with one of Julia's coaches here: armory.tf/1IxdlFL