Apr 21, 2018 3 min read

McMURRAY – As Canon-McMillan High School senior runner Damon Gall finished the final strides of his fourth race – the 3,200-meter run – his family, friends and teammates stood at the fence near the finish line and joyfully began chanting “MVP! MVP!”

Following rounds of applause as Gall crossed the finish line for his fourth gold medal, and a handshake from Canon-McMillan track and field coach Mark Galley, the only thing Gall could have been thinking was how long it would take to hear his name called for the MVP award?

After the 800 meters (2:07.96), 1,600 meters (4:37.87), 3,200 meters (10:26.04) runs and serving as the anchor of the Big Macs’ gold medal-winning 3,200 relay team, raising the plaque for the Most Valuable Player for the boys’ track events at the Washington-Greene County Coaches Meet Saturday afternoon at Peters Township High School ended a long wait for Gall.

Not the wait from his last race to being handed the award, but from the time late last summer when his promising final season of cross country was taken away after suffering two stress fractures in the lower part of his right leg.

“It was brutal. There is no other way to explain it,” said Gall, whose hopes of being a top-five runner in the WPIAL and top 15 in the state were quickly erased by the injury.

“I had some high goals. But when I found out at the end of August (about the stress fractures) my cross-country season was taken away. I came back for a few meets. I ran a couple times during the indoor track season. But being the MVP at today’s meet was the first big goal.”

Gall emphatically crossed that goal off the list, one of many he will be trying to accomplish over the six weeks of his high-school career.

“All his races were smart races today,” said Galley. “He knew that he had a chance to win all four (races) today and could get the MVP. He set his sights on that and took it one race at a time.”

Gall wasn’t the only male athlete for the Big Macs who was honored. Lennie Corton was the overall MVP after placing first in the long jump (20-9) and the 110 hurdles (15.96). Corton also placed fifth in the 300 hurdles (45.10). He scored 24 team points for the Big Macs 24.

Canon-McMillan won the boys Class AAA team title with 158.5 points, 62.5 more than second-place Peters Township. Washington won the boys Class AA team title with 77 points, defeating Waynesburg by 21.5 points.

Fort Cherry’s Nate Higham was the MVP for the field events, placing second in all three jumping events.

Gall finally returned to casual training in the middle of November before eventually increasing his mileage and building his workouts.

“So far it’s paid off,” he said. “I have trusted my training. When I went out there today, I knew what I had to do. I knew it was going to be a difficult day with running all four distance events, but distance is my strength. I knew I could go out there and do it.”

For the four events Gall participated, he ran a total of four miles.

“It’s good for his confidence,” Galley said. “He got some good practice on racing strategy, too. He just ran really smart. He has always been an athlete that goes into a race and does really well. But he hasn’t necessarily done a bunch of races in the same day. He is to that point now.”