By beating a heavy rain by two hours, the 32nd Run Thru History was the biggest winner Saturday morning at the Vicksburg National Military Park.

The road surfaces were still slick with rain from overnight, but a field of over 700 runners and walkers were able to compete.

Coming home first was Clinton High’s William Kazery in 36:21. In January, Kazery won the Chill in the Hills, Vicksburg’s downtown road race. Now with his first RTH win, Kazery owns two of the three Vicksburg races this season and can match Nathan Davis’ feat from last year if he can win the Over The River Run in October. Davis won all three of the Vicksburg races in 2010.

Even with the win, Kazery was not happy with his race.

“I hated it. I hated every minute of it,” Kazery said. “It wasn’t the weather. It’s the course. I’ve ran this one other time and I had the flu, but the course was still horrible. The hills are just so hard.”

Kazery would have had an even tougher time had he missed a late turn.

“I was going straight and then the guy behind me said there was a left turn, even if I missed it, I don’t think it would have knocked that much time off.”

Dwain McDuffy, 40, of West Monroe was the runner who alerted Kazery. He finished second overall in 36:55. McDuffy is the cross country coach in West Monroe and he was elated to see one of his young runners, James Turner, finish in the top four. Colin Johnson of Jackson was third in 38:58.

“I liked it better when I was going dow hill,” said the 14-year-old Turner, who finished with a time of 39:25. “The hills were really steep. There was one that started off kind of on a slow steep and then it just jerked up.”

That would be the hill at the Great Redoubt, a stronghold of the Confederate army’s line of defense during the Vicksburg campaign in 1863.

It was at the four-mile mark where the women’s race turned. Kristi Hall of Vicksburg had the early lead but was caught by former RTH champion Keri White Frazier. Frazier, a University of Southern Mississippi cross country coach, took over and won her fourth title in 41:51.

“I grew up in Vicksburg and I grew up running in this race,” Frazier said. “I haven’t run in it the last two years because I’m in my second year with yjr Southern Miss cross country team. But this is my favorite course and I’m glad to win it again.”

Frazier credited Hall for making it a race.

“We really pushed each other,” Frazier said.

Hall, who finished in 42:32, was hoping to add an RTH win to her list.

“It’s the only thing I haven’t won,” Hall said. “At least I made her wait until the four-mile mark.”

Elizabeth Joiner won the 5K walk for her first RTH title. It joins her January win in the Chill in the Hills.

“I’m a cancer survivor, so this means a lot to win for the first time in this race,” Joiner said.

David Smalley won the men’s walk in 27:53.

David Minor won the Blue/Gray one mile fun run and 10-year-old Alise Piazza took the girls’ race.

RTH race director Casey Custer said the approaching rain affected the number of race day participants but not the overall registrations.

“We had over 900 registered and that is up from last year,” Custer said. “We were lucky the weather held off. We had some people pull out, including an entire team from Delta State. We are just glad that our volunteers from the Knights of Columbus were able to shift gears and bring our trophy presentations inside.By Jeff Byrd

jbyrd@vicksburgpost.com

By beating a heavy rain by two hours, the 32nd Run Thru History was the biggest winner Saturday morning at the Vicksburg National Military Park.

The road surfaces were still slick with rain from overnight, but a field of over 700 runners and walkers were able to compete.

Coming home first was Clinton High’s William Kazery in 36:21. In January, Kazery won the Chill in the Hills, Vicksburg’s downtown road race. Now with his first RTH win, Kazery owns two of the three Vicksburg races this season and can match Nathan Davis’ feat from last year if he can win the Over The River Run in October. Davis won all three of the Vicksburg races in 2010.

Even with the win, Kazery was not happy with his race.

“I hated it. I hated every minute of it,” Kazery said. “It wasn’t the weather. It’s the course. I’ve ran this one other time and I had the flu, but the course was still horrible. The hills are just so hard.”

Kazery would have had an even tougher time had he missed a late turn.

“I was going straight and then the guy behind me said there was a left turn, even if I missed it, I don’t think it would have knocked that much time off.”

Dwain McDuffy, 40, of West Monroe was the runner who alerted Kazery. He finished second overall in 36:55. McDuffy is the cross country coach in West Monroe and he was elated to see one of his young runners, James Turner, finish in the top four. Colin Johnson of Jackson was third in 38:58.

“I liked it better when I was going dow hill,” said the 14-year-old Turner, who finished with a time of 39:25. “The hills were really steep. There was one that started off kind of on a slow steep and then it just jerked up.”

That would be the hill at the Great Redoubt, a stronghold of the Confederate army’s line of defense during the Vicksburg campaign in 1863.

It was at the four-mile mark where the women’s race turned. Kristi Hall of Vicksburg had the early lead but was caught by former RTH champion Keri White Frazier. Frazier, a University of Southern Mississippi cross country coach, took over and won her fourth title in 41:51.

“I grew up in Vicksburg and I grew up running in this race,” Frazier said. “I haven’t run in it the last two years because I’m in my second year with yjr Southern Miss cross country team. But this is my favorite course and I’m glad to win it again.”

Frazier credited Hall for making it a race.

“We really pushed each other,” Frazier said.

Hall, who finished in 42:32, was hoping to add an RTH win to her list.

“It’s the only thing I haven’t won,” Hall said. “At least I made her wait until the four-mile mark.”

Elizabeth Joiner won the 5K walk for her first RTH title. It joins her January win in the Chill in the Hills.

“I’m a cancer survivor, so this means a lot to win for the first time in this race,” Joiner said.

David Smalley won the men’s walk in 27:53.

David Minor won the Blue/Gray one mile fun run and 10-year-old Alise Piazza took the girls’ race.

RTH race director Casey Custer said the approaching rain affected the number of race day participants but not the overall registrations.

“We had over 900 registered and that is up from last year,” Custer said. “We were lucky the weather held off. We had some people pull out, including an entire team from Delta State. We are just glad that our volunteers from the Knights of Columbus were able to shift gears and bring our trophy presentations inside.