Women's Track and Field
- Title:
- Assistant Coach (Distance and Middle Distance)
- Email:
- hunt2@princeton.edu
- Phone:
- 609-258-2457
Brad Hunt was named the head coach of the Princeton women’s cross country team in August 2016. Hunt serves as head coach of the cross country program and as an assistant distance and middle distance coach for the track team.
In his second year at the helm of the distance program, the Tigers went from sixth place in the Ivy League cross country championships to fourth and had the top individual finisher in Gabi Forrest - the eighth Tiger in program history to win the individual title. She went on to earn All-America honors with a 37th place finish in the NCAA Championships. The following year, 2018, the team qualified for the NCAA championships and finished 21st. Along with Gabi Forrest, Hunt has sent 3 other individual student-athletes to the NCAA Cross Country Championship (Melia Chittenden 2019; Fi Max 2021; Abby Loveys, 2022).
In cross country, Hunt has coached 5 student-athletes to 1st Team All-Ivy honors (Gabrielle Forrest 2017; Melia Chittenden 2019; Fiona Max 2021; Page Lester 2022; Fiona Max 2023), 12 to 2nd Team All-Ivy honors, and 18 to All-Region honors.
Indoors, he has had 3 individual champions at Ivy Heps with Maggie Hock winning the 800m and Caroline Timm winning the 1000m, both in 2022, as well at Mena Scatchard winning the 1000m in 2024, setting a new Ivy League Indoor Championship record of 2:43.23. At the Indoor Ivy League Championships, the Princeton distance team has outscored all other Ivy League distance teams twice (2019; 2023). Hunt has also had 4 Heps relay titles, winning the 4x800m in 2017, 2022, and 2024 and the DMR in 2019 and 2023. He has coached 4 individuals to 2nd team All-Ivy honors. Hunt has rewritten the top 10 all-time Indoor Ivy Championship record book, where Princeton student-athletes have raced to 13 of the top 10 performances across all distance events since his first year in 2017. Indoors, Hunt has coached student-athletes to 33 of the 70 top 10 marks in the 7 common indoor distance events. He has also coached student-athletes to 6 indoor school records since starting at Princeton (Katie Hanss, 1000m, 2017; Maggie Hock, 1000m, 2022; DMR, 2022; Abby Loveys, 3000m, 2023; Mena Scatchard, 1000m, 2024; Maggie Liebich, Mile, 2024; 4x800m, 2024). The 2024 4x800m school record was run at the Indoor Ivy League Championship, where the quartet of Olivia Martin, Maddie Cramer, Hannah Riggins, and Mena Scatchard also set the All-time Ivy League and Ivy League Championship record with their time of 8:37.49 (after converting from 4x880y to 4x800m). In 2022, Hunt was voted Mid-Atlantic Region Assistance Coach of the Year.
Outdoors, he has had 1 individual champion at Ivy Heps with Elizabeth Bird winning the 3000m steeplechase in 2017. Hunt also has a Heps relay title, winning the 4x800m in 2017. He has coached 6 individuals to 2nd team All-Ivy honors. Twenty-one student-athletes have qualified for the NCAA First Round during Hunt’s time at Princeton. He has sent at least one student-athlete each year since starting at Princeton in 2016 in events spanning the 800m-5000m. Caroline Timm qualified for the NCAA Outdoor Championships in the 1500m in 2022, placing 6th in her preliminary heat. Hunt has coached student-athletes to 5 top 10 Outdoor Ivy Championship marks. Outdoors, Hunt has coached student-athletes to 21 of the 60 top 10 marks in the 6 common outdoor distance events. The 2024 season saw the breaking of the 1500m school record by Scatchard, with her time of 4:11.10.
Hunt came to Princeton from Wake Forest, where in five years as the assistant track & field and cross country his student-athletes achieved first-team All-America status at 800, 1500, 3000 and 5000 meters as well as in cross country. He had 19 student-athletes earn All-ACC honors and guided Anna Nosenko to the ACC Championship record in the women’s 3,000. During his time in Winston-Salem, the Demon Deacons posted school records in the men’s 1500, mile, 4x800, distance medley relay and the women’s 3,000. The cross country teams also earned the Dean’s Cup for team GPA in 2014, 2015 and 2016.
Prior to joining the Wake Forest staff in 2010, Hunt was the assistant track & field and cross country coach at the University of Virginia from 2005-10. The Cavaliers were three-time ACC champions in men’s cross country during his tenure and reached the NCAA championship every season, finishing as high as 12th in 2007. In both 2007 and 2008, Emil Heineking was the ACC individual champion and went on to earn All-America honors both years. The women’s team earned four NCAA bids and placed as high as 14th in 2006 and won the Southeast Regional in 2008. Highlighting the success was Catherine White’s fourth-place finish at the 2009 NCAA Championship.
In 2007, the Cavaliers Distance Medley Relay garnered a seventh-place finish at the NCAA indoor track & field championships. In 2009, while working as an assistant to current Princeton men’s cross country coach, Jason Vigilante, the Virginia DMR posted a school record of 9:29.86. During the outdoor season, the men won the first ACC Team Championship in school history. The following indoor season, both the men’s and women’s DMR won the ACC Championship.
Hunt spent five years as an assistant track & field and cross country coach at his alma mater Kent State from 2000-05. He helped to guide two student-athletes to All-America honors at 800 meters and had a junior national champion and a US Olympic trials qualifier in the 800. Hunt coached eight individual Mid-American Conference champions and helped the Golden Flashes to 10 school records.
Holding a degree in psychology, Hunt graduated Kent State in 1997 as a four-year letter-winner on both the cross country and track & field teams. He was a two-year captain of both squads and was MVP of the cross country team as a junior and a two-time Academic All-America.
