A Virginia high school athlete is breaking barriers with his latest victory.
Adonis Lattimore, a senior at Landstown High School who was born without a right leg and with a partial left leg, took first place Saturday in the Virginia High School League Class 6, 106-pound weight class, according toThe Virginian-Pilot.
“I’ve been dreaming of this since I knew what it was, and to finally have it happen is just — I don’t know how to explain it,” said Adonis, 17. “Really, if you work hard, you can do anything — even win a state championship without legs.”
Coach James Sanderlin was filled with pride in avideoof the match, which shows him jumping out of his seat and cheering for Adonis as he brought home the gold.
“Amazing. He did all the work. I just get to be a part of the journey,” Sanderlin said. “It’s an amazing feeling to watch him do it and have the support of the crowd. It was awesome. He’s a hard-working young man. I’m just speechless.”
“It was a goal four years ago, and this year it finally came to fruition,” he added. “It was a long journey worth everything that we did.”
The clip also features Adonis' father Jerrold picking him up and hugging him for an emotional celebration.
Adonis, the youngest of four siblings, was also born with one fully functioning arm and one finger on his right hand.
“What we understood is that there is a greater calling on Adonis' life that’s beyond what we could imagine,” Jerrold told thePilotearlier this month. “We also knew this wasn’t just our story. But this was our story to share.”
Adonis has been wrestling since he was in the second grade and plans to continue when he goes to college, according to CBS stationWTKR.
“At one point I was on a losing streak for about a year. Sometime in middle school I hit my stride and brought it into high school,” he recalled last month, adding: “My goal is to win a state [championship] this year.”
He previouslymade it as far as the region tournamentwhen he was a freshman, but didn’t qualify as a sophomore. Although he planned to go all the way in his junior year, the COVID-19 pandemic halted his season.
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“It was pretty frustrating,” Adonis told thePilot. “But I just didn’t let it get to me. I tried to bounce back knowing I had one more year.”
“Any school you go to, everybody knows Adonis, everybody loves him,” fellow Landstown senior Thomas Keyes told WTKR. “I think part of that is he’s got a great personality. He’s always smiling.”
Adonis said of the encouragement he’s received, “That’s been amazing. It’s really a great community that’s been behind me this whole time with training, support.”
source: people.com
