Brian Hull Used To Run Alone - In Rear;
Now He Runs Alone In Front Of The Pack

So there was this little kid in elementary school, right? And every time they made the grade schoolers run the 50-yard dash for those Presidential Physical Fitness Tests, this poor little guy is lucky if he beats three, maybe four other kids in his class.

And then, one day, they have these kids run all the way around the track out behind the school. And this little kid, see, he goes out and he runs around the track. He gets all the way around, and then he stops and looks behind him. And there’s nobody anywhere near him. Nobody at all. Nobody close.

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It’s been a long time since the sixth grade, but Southwestern’s Brian Hull still spends most of his time running alone and then looking back. There’s no longer any competition whatsoever for Brian below the state level; his only inspiration during county or sectional meets must come from within, from his powerful sense of Brian Hull versus 1-himself and 2-the clock.

As the finest long distance runner that Chautauqua County has ever seen or may ever see again. Brian is fortunate to have been blessed with great self-motivation: “Not having competition doesn’t really matter with me. I’m lucky that way. I can run as well, or nearly as well, on my own as I can against strong competition.”

Brian spoke these words in much the same fashion that he expressed himself throughout our long conversation at his parents’ Hunt Road residence: quietly, but with an undercurrent of excitement and pleasure. He loves running. He loves the places his running has taken him during the past, and he loves the prospect of bigger and better things in the future. Nobody has had to push him and nobody can keep him down. He’s been running since that day in grade school when he discovered his inborn talent. He’ll be running when the Olympics come around in 1976 and maybe even in 1980.

This isn’t to say that he’s done it all by himself which would be nearly impossible. His father, Russell, has always encouraged Brian’s participation in every sport (especially baseball, the elder Hull’s strong point.) Tom Priester, track and cross-country coach at Southwestern all through Brian’s career, has provided him with “all the right kinds of training programs” and in Brian’s words, “has gotten the best out of me.”

Encouragement, technical and training know-how – these things came to an extent from the outside. But the core of it all, the determination and inspiration, came from Brian himself. While he considers Priester the finest coach he could have had, a coach who has him running at full potential, Brian doesn’t hold any illusions about his coach having “turned him into a runner” or “caused him to take running seriously.” These things Brian just didn’t need a coach for, because he took care of them on his own.

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The list of Brian’s high school running achievements is lengthy, but a quick overview of his career should serve as sufficient background to his current excellence.

Eighth grade: He could run the 600 in 1:34 and the 880 in 2:22. At 13 years of age and a towering 5’1”, he was handily beating everyone in the Chadakoin Valley Conference except Jamestown’s Chuck Rinaldo (who later leveled out from his early years of superiority.)

Ninth grade: This was a big year for him. First of all, he had grown six inches from the previous season, which helped greatly. Next, he had varsity teammate Jerry Marra to work and run with. “Jerry helped me a lot. I worked so hard to keep up with him. In fact, I worked harder that year than at any other time.” He only lost one race, that being to Fredonia star Bruce Carter. As a freshman, Brian won both the County and Sectional meets in the two-mile with times of 10:07 and 10:03, respectively. He missed qualifying for the State Meet by one second.

Tenth grade: Brian’s only disappointing season. He was hampered all through cross-country season by a pulled groin muscle, and he spent all of his time losing to Carter instead of beating him. He started to come around in the spring, clocking a 9:34 in the sectionals which sent him to the State Meet at C. W. Post College. There he turned in a 9:42, good for fifth place in the slower division. He wasn’t happy with his showing. Also, Brian started running the mile for the first time in competition, though it was just a few times early in the track season. His best time was 4:39.

Eleventh grade: This was the year things really began to fall in place. He worked hard over the summer, running some eight miles a day. He didn’t lose in cross-country until he got to the State Meet at R.I.T., where he was third in class and had the fifth best time overall. The county and sectional meets, needless to say, were easily his. During the winter he trained moderately and ran some indoor meets. At his first indoor competition in Rochester, Brian ran a 9:43 two-mile. It was a turning point in his career. “I hadn’t been training hard, and it’s more difficult to get the good time indoors, what with the sharper turns, heat and all. When I turned in a time as good as anything I had ever done outdoors, I knew my times were going to take a big drop in the spring track season.” And drop they did: a 9:19.6 in the two-mile, the fastest time in the state by a junior; and 4:21.8, fastest one-mile time ever in Section 6. He went to the State Meet, but things didn’t feel right. He didn’t have his usual finishing kick, and he had to settle for a 9:21.5 and fourth place.

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And now it’s Brian’s senior year. He’s run 11 cross-country meets, including invitationals at McQuaid, Hilton and Baldwinsville, and he’s taken 11 first places. If that’s not enough, he has also set 11 course records.

Last weekend he went to the Eastern States Meet, where he won his division and recorded the third best time among some 1,200 runners from all over the Northeast.

Where does he go from here?

Most important right now is the upcoming State Meet in Binghamton on November 10. Brian wants to win, and he believes that he can. His leading competitor is John Evans of Syracuse and Brian has already beaten him three times this year in as many outings.

The picture is similar for the spring: he wants to win the two-mile at the State Meet, and once again Evans will be his prime obstacle. Brian expects to go under 9 minutes in this event, and he has moderate hopes of breaking the state record of 8:55.

To do that would put him on the level of “national competitor” and move him down the road to one of his primary goals: to run in the Olympics. He doesn’t know if he will make it, but he knows he will be at the 1976 Olympic Trials and possibly at the 1980 trials as well.

There are other goals for the outstanding Trojan runner: he’ll be going to college to study physical education, with the three schools of his possible choice being Cedarville College, Miami of Ohio and the University of Tennessee. He wants to teach high school athletics, because he believes that is where a coach can “make or break a prospective runner.”

Brian lives at 926 Hunt Road in Lakewood with his parents, Russell and Roberta, and his brothers Roger (16) and Gary (13). Mr. Hull teaches chemistry at Jamestown High, while Mrs. Hull works for the Visiting Nurses Association.