In the long annals of the Run Thru History, 2007 will go down as the year of the rookie.

Three first-time participants claimed championships Saturday at the 28th annual Run Thru History at the Vicksburg Military Park. Of the four winners in the men’s and women’s 10-kilometer run and men’s and women’s 5K racewalk, only Tina Branan had even attended the race previously. Branan won her second consecutive women’s walk title with a time of 31 minutes and 14 seconds.

Neal Henley, a 28-year-old from Columbus, said he had heard good things about the race and decided to try it this year. It turned out to be a smart move.

Henley pulled away from the field early and dominated the rest of the way, winning the overall title in the 10K run with a time of 36:37. Bassfield’s Jeff Hathorn was second with a time of 37:28. It was Hathorn’s ninth top-five finish in the last 11 years, but the 49-year-old has not won the RTH since going back-to-back in 1995 and ’96.

Henley, who has only been running competitively for about a year and a half, said he was worried after getting out to a big lead early in the race.

&#8220It made me nervous. There was nobody around me after the first mile,” he said. &#8220I didn’t have a watch on, either, so I didn’t know what my time was, and there was nobody near me. It was a quiet run.”

Wade Taylor, a 24-year-old from Flora who finished fourth, saw Henley sprinting away from the pack and thought the rest of the runners would catch up. As the race progressed, however, all they saw was Henley getting farther and farther away.

&#8220I thought maybe he was dying because he went out so fast. But we never could reel him in,” said Taylor, who crossed the finish line in 37:56. &#8220He’s got some talent.”

About 5 1/2 minutes after Henley finished his rout, 15-year-old Annalee Pierce crossed the finish line to win the women’s title in her first Run Thru History. Like Henley, Pierce separated from the rest of the female runners around the one-mile mark and never looked back. She finished with a time of 42:09, 36 seconds ahead of women’s runner-up Heidi Melia of Canton.

&#8220It was very exciting. I was really glad and shocked to win,” Pierce said.

In the racewalk, 51-year-old Dave Smalley of Florence pumped his fists in celebration after crossing the finish line. Only eight months after taking up racewalking, Smalley had won a championship many walkers spend years chasing.

&#8220I’m young enough right now that I’m still fresh at it. I’ve been gearing toward this,” said Smalley, who started racewalking in July.

To win the RTH, though, Smalley needed a little help from his closest competitor.

Kirby Hendrix, the defending RTH champion who finished second to Smalley on Saturday, gave the rookie some advice about the Military Park course before the race.

&#8220He told me where the two big hills were and how to handle them,” Smalley said.

Smalley used that tip and a fast start to win. He, Hendrix and Branan all separated from the pack in the first 100 yards and were never challenged. Smalley won with a time of 28:35, Hendrix was 44 seconds behind, and Branan was third overall, about 2 1/2 minutes behind Smalley.

&#8220I was able to get away from the pack off the bat, and it was a two-man race after that,” Smalley said.

Branan, meanwhile, managed to snag one trophy for the RTH veterans. The favorite to win the women’s racewalk, she did just that by beating second-place Carolyn Graham of Brandon by more than 90 seconds. Graham posted a time of 32:52.

It was a gratifying win for Branan, who started racewalking in 1995 but didn’t win an RTH championship until last year. Her good friend, Debbie Cheney, won four overall titles in a row from 2002 to 2005 as Branan finished in the top 20 overall each time. Branan was fourth overall in 2004 and second in 2005 before breaking through with a women’s championship and second-place finish overall last year.

Cheney decided to run the 10K this year, leaving the 48-year-old Branan as the new queen of the racewalk at the Run Thru History.

&#8220I miss (Cheney) dearly because she kept me consistent. If she came back, I’d take her on,” Branan said with a laugh.

A total of 695 people – 343 in the 10K, 286 in the 5K walk, and another 66 in the Blue/Gray One-Miler – finished this year’s Run Thru History, and nearly 800 had registered. The number of actual participants was 10 more than last year, and close to the average of 736 over the last six years.

Jerry Groom, a 14-year-old from Boyce, La., won the boys’ One-Miler with at time of 6:39. Clinton’s Kelsey Shumate, 13, won the girls’ One-Miler in 6:59.

Vicksburg native Gary Sessums finished last out of the 343 runners in the 10K, crossing the finish line after a grueling 1 hour, 29 minute and 17 second trek. It was the third time in the last six years that Sessums has finished dead last in the RTH, but the first time since 2003.

There was a silver lining in his run, though. Sessums finished the RTH for the 28th straight year, and is one of only three people to participate in the race every year it has been held.