Luke Stevens took up sprinting to help his football but may now have to re-evaluate his future.

The 19-year-old, from Tarneit, in Melbourne, won in a photo-finish from veteran Mark Hignett, who has a Stawell Gift second in his resume.

Matt Carter couldn’t repeat his heat, the equivalent of 10.3 seconds for 100 metres, that put him among the fastest in the country.

Stevens said he had no idea of who had won and wasn’t looking when he crossed the line.

“I never really expected to win a gift,” he said.

“I took up running to improve my fitness and have trained rain, hail or shine.

“Thankfully, the hard work has paid off.

“I was just happy to make the finals here.”

Stevens was part of a unique double for Werribee trainer John Henry.

Stablemate Matt Hargreaves won the Wangaratta Gift on Saturday night.

But Hargreaves was run out at Albury by the man he beat the night before.

“That’s running, I’m pretty happy to have won the Wangaratta race — I’ve been trying to win it for 10 years,” he said.

“Now that Luke has made it a double it is even sweeter.”