Brian Hull

He was the County and Section 6 champion in both 1972 and 1973. As a junior he placed third at the New York State meet and as a senior he was the Class C NYS champion at Binghamton with the fastest time of all runners regardless of classification.

Other highlights of Brian’s senior season were winning Class A at both the McQuaid and Baldwinsville Invitationals and winning Class C at the Eastern States Championships.

In his final high school XC race, he finished 4th in the National AAU Championships.

Hull was equally impressive for the track team during his years at Southwestern. He was a 3-time County champ and 4-time Section 6 titlist in both the 1-mile and 2-mile races. In his senior year, he placed his name in the Southwestern record book in 3 individual events and 4 relays.

He set the County and Section 6 record of of 9:06 for the 2-mile run, a time that is still a standard, even if converted to a time in the 3200 meter race that is now the regulation distance.

Hull won his second New York State championship of the school year when he broke the tape first in the 2-mile race. It is believed that Brian was the first Chautauqua County athlete to win two individual state titles in two different sports in the same year.

Upon graduation from SWCS, Brian initially enrolled at Miami of Ohio, but then transferred to Cedarville University, a private, Christian school in southwest Ohio.

His former Cedarville coach, Elvin King, wrote: “Brian brought an excitement to our program. In his first year, he placed second in the All-Ohio cross country meet that included all colleges and universities in the state. His level of competition was instrumental in the increased recognition of Cedarville athletics.”

He became an NAIA All-American in cross country and a 3-time All-American in the 3000m steeplechase.

Following his collegiate career, Hull became a physical education teacher for the Whitney Point, NY schools. He is now retired. He and his wife live in Cincinnatus, New York and Sebring, Florida.

He became an inductee of the Section 6 Hall of Fame in 2014 and is also a member of the Southwestern Athletic Hall of Fame.

Fred Larson, the legendary cross-country and track coach at Fredonia Central for three decades, and a 2023 inductee of the Chautauqua Sports Hall of Fame, said this in his letter of recommendation: “Brian Hull was the best distance runner in both track and cross country runner in Western New York. He would attack a XC course or a track from start to finish. His mental and physical preparation made him a winner at the county, sectional and state level in both track and cross country. I and many other coaches watched in awe.”.