Instead of running over a muddy Choctaw Trails course on Saturday morning, Clinton High School cross country coach Gary Howell had his team run over the Mississippi River.

The change of plans worked out great for William Kazery. The 17-year-old junior won his third race this year in Warren County, taking home the 21st Over the River Run overall championship out of a field of 261 runners.

For complete results click here.

Race organizer Annette Kirklin, whose Southern Cultural Heritage Foundation took over the race after Region Region bowed out after 20 years, was elated with the turnout. A total of 603 people registered for the five-mile run, walk and one-mile fun run, and 489 finished.

“I’m ecstatic,” said Kirklin, the executive director of the SCHF. “We had a pretty high number of participants.”

They can thank Howell for bringing in his 27 runners. Besides Kazery, 11 Arrows and Lady Arrows took home medals in the youth categories from ages 11 to 18. Two weeks ago, Kazery won the Warren Central Invitational in Bovina. In January, he won the first Chill in the Hills run through downtown Vicksburg.

“Our coach thought it was too muddy to run at Choctaw Trails today and he didn’t want us to get hurt before district and state,” Kazery said.

Howell felt his team would take to running a road course instead of staying home and dealing with a Choctaw Trails course that had been pounded by rain over the past week.

“It was really muddy out there today. Warren Central and Vicksburg, who we will face in district, went ahead and ran there, but I thought this would be good to run a road race. William really likes road races, because he runs in a lot of them. We brought all 27 of them over here and with it being five miles, it was good for them to get some extra mileage. Plus, they got the great scenery of the Mississippi River,” Howell said.

Kazery won in 27 minutes, nine seconds. Former Louisiana Tech runner and Vicksburg resident Nathan Davis was second with a time of 27:40.

“He (Kazery) made a good move on the uphill,” Davis said.

Taking the women’s crown was Coral Cruz of Morovis, Puerto Rico. Kristi Hall was second.

Hall actually recruited Cruz, her co-worker for the last two months, to run with her.

Cruz posted a time of 32:30, while Hall crossed the line in 33:45.

“Kristi is like my best friend here,” said Cruz, who ran in college in Puerto Rico. “It was breezy, but I had my lucky gloves on.”

“She is an awewome runner,” Hall said.

David Smalley of Florence was the overall male winner in the walk with a time of 45:28, while Jackson’s Monica Thompson won the female walk in 53:47. Smalley dusted second-place finisher Lance Cooper by more than 2 1/2 minutes.

Eleven-year-old Thatcher Shepard won the one-mile fun run with a time of 6:34, and 13-year-old Mollie Shepard was the girls’ winner in 6:47.

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Contact Jeff Byrd at jbyrd@vicksburgpost.com