John Poulton, Trey Greer and Susan Paulsen show off the second place adult trebuchet division trophy for their World Championship Punkin' Chunkin' 2010 team First in Fright, while Galen Kilpatrick, Hastings Greer, and Shane Slater show off the first place youth trebuchet division trophy for their team Imperial Pride.

    When you hear the word “hobby” you might think of anything from building model airplanes to hiking. One thing that probably doesn’t come immediately to mind is making your own catapults designed to hurl pumpkins over the farthest possible distance.

    It wasn’t the first thing Chapel Hill, N.C. resident and Meridian native Trey Greer would have thought of either. He just kind of happened into it.

    Greer has competed in the World Championship Punkin Chunkin’ competition in Delaware for the last four years. This year, his team placed second in their division, and his son’s team placed first in theirs. Both may appear on the Discovery Channel’s two hour special on the competition, scheduled to air Thursday evening.

    Greer said he built his first trebuchet, a type of catapult that’s powered by falling weight, as a way to throw jugs of water at a Halloween party. After building it, he realized he could use it to get into the Punkin Chunkin’ competition and see all the cool machines that other competitors had built.

    “I viewed it more as a ticket than a competition,” he said.

    This year was Greer’s fourth year at Punkin Chunkin’, and though he first only wanted to get in the door, he now is among the top competitors, with his team “First in Fright” placing second in the adult trebuchet division, tossing their pumpkin 1,920 feet. Another Meridian native, John Hamilton, who now lives in Yonkers, N.Y., was also on the team.

    Greer’s son, Hastings, 15, and his team “Imperial Pride” placed first in the youth trebuchet division. Greer said Hastings’ team designed and built their trebuchet, which launched their pumpkin 778 feet, themselves.

    Greer said the competition is all about having a good time, quoting Dr. Suess, “It’s fun to have fun, but you have to know how.”

    Greer’s parents, Tom and Joy Greer, and his sisters still live in Meridian.