David Lattimore II and his coach Dr. Brian Damhoff share a smile (Tony Holler photo)
Editor's note: Apologies to the Plainfield North team in not getting this article up prior to the state meet. This editor had some major problems with internet service in Charleston in getting this and other content up in a favorable time. David Lattimore II competed admirably in the long jump. The senior standout leaped 21'5.75 but did not advance to the final round.
Wow! I think that pretty much sums up how I still feel 5 days after sectionals. Moments before senior David Latimore II’s first jump at sectionals, I pulled him aside and said “David, I believe in your ability to get to state more than any other athlete I’ve coached, believe in yourself today.” When you looked at the numbers, it seemed like a stretch. His PR going into sectionals was 21’6. State qualifying for 3A long jump is 22’3, 7-inches further than David’s PR. But what I knew is that David has supreme confidence in his abilities as a human being and a desire to test them. On David’s first jump of the competition, he jumped 22’1 which was a big PR putting him into 1st place and 2 inches away from state qualifying. When David heard the mark, he got really excited but when he came over to me. I said, “David, hey listen a PR is great but don’t be content, in this competition we’re going to need 22’3 to go to state. You need to make sure you don’t have an adrenaline so go back there and get your focus back because we need more”. As he always does, David absorbed my words perceptively and said ok coach.
On his 3rd jump of the competition, David jumped 22’2. Could you get any closer to state qualifying? My heart sank a little bit and I think my hair started to gray. Marcus Bates of Yorkville had already surpassed the qualifying standard of 22’3 with a leap of 22’6 and it was obvious to me that Peter Andreano would also hit the qualifying standard in finals (Peter went on to jump 22’4 in finals and advance). At that point in time, as Coach Holler pointed out to me, it was up to David. If he wanted to go to state, he needed just 1 more inch. On his first jump in finals, David leaped 22’6 and punched his ticket to state. I don’t think I had ever felt more relief in my life. As confident as I was, there was always an internal fear that we’d be 1-inch short of state.
There is much more to David’s story though. He has one of the most interesting stories of any athlete I’ve ever coached. When David was a freshman in high school, he began to experience episodes of dizziness, shortness of breath and palpations. However, it was not until his sophomore year of high school that doctors caught it. David was diagnosed with Left Ventricular Non-Compaction Cardiomyopathy (LVNC). As a result, David had to quit track his sophomore year with an uncertainty if he would ever return to organized sports. He spent the summer being run through tests and taking medication. He continued to have symptoms throughout his junior year until right before track season when as mysteriously as the symptoms came on, they stopped. David went out for track his junior year and 3 weeks into the season, I watched him scissor kick 5’0 with ease, as I pointed out in a previous blog, and he became a jumper.
David’s progression as a long jumper has been nothing short of remarkable. On March 15th, 2014, David debuted in long jump with a leap of 17’10. He only long jumped 4 times his junior season and at the sectional meet, David “shocked the world” by PR’ing by 1 foot 9 inches to go 21’0 even. This year David has been consistently good. In fact, he’s only had a couple of jumps that I can recall this year that were not over 20 feet. Not too bad for a guy who last year only jumped over 20 feet on one occasion. Did I mention that David just turned 17?
David is much more than an outstanding athlete. As good as he is as a jumper, he’s better in the classroom. He graduated with a 4.93 GPA. He’s a recipient of the National Merit Award recognizing the top 3000 students on the preliminary SAT. He qualified for state in the DECA Business Competition and then advanced to nationals. At nationals, David placed an outstanding 23rd. He will be attending Northwestern University (unless I can convince him to attend a college with a men’s track program, I’m trying!) to major in computer science with a concentration in financial economics. It would not surprise me in the least if David Latimore II became a future President of the United States of America.
At state, David has two goals. The first is to place and take home a medal. The second is to break our school record and put his name in our record books. Our school record is 22’9 by Caleb Ivey. To accomplish these goals, David will have to rise to the occasion and if sectionals the past two years are any indication, David should jump well. I also have two goals for the state weekend. One is to get David to accomplish his goals. The second is to run faster in the 400m than I did last year (I ran 58.54) for the race at state. To say the least, I have way more confidence in David then I do in my 400m running abilities. David is a remarkable competitor and human being who will go far in life. I am proud to say that I coach David Latimore II.
-Dr. Brian Damhoff