Louisville Pair Named Male, Female Special Olympics Athletes of the Year

Lucas Mathes and Danyelle Tucker, both of Louisville, were honored as the High School Special Olympics Male and Female Athlete of the Year by the Louisville Courier-Journal at their annual Sports Awards event on Sunday, June 2. The Courier-Journal Sports Awards honors outstanding high school athletes from throughout the Kentuckiana region.

Mathes was a senior at Doss High School this year. He has been a Special Olympics athlete for five years competing in softball and basketball. In 2018 both Lucas’ softball and basketball teams finished as the Special Olympics state runner-up. Lucas competes in Unified basketball and track and field at Doss. In 2018 he was part of state championship Unified teams at the KHSAA state track meet in the 4×100, 2×50 and 2×200-meter relays. He repeated as a state champion in the 4×100-meter Unified relay at the 2019 state track meet and was part of state runner-up teams in the 2×50 and 2×200 relays.

Tucker was a freshman at Southern High School this year. She has been a Special Olympics athlete for nine years, competing in cheerleading and track and field. Her Special Olympics cheerleading squad won the 2019 state championship. She was also the regional champion in the 50- and 100-meter dashes. She is a three-year player on the Southern Unified basketball team and a member of the Southern cheerleading squad. In addition to her athletic activities, Tucker is a singer who has performed the National Anthem at many sporting events across the state and she has been featured in two books – Autistic Angels and Up To Bat.

This is the fourth year that the Courier-Journal Sports Awards have honored Special Olympics athletes. Previous winners include Jamil Danzy of Ballard High School and Hannah Ballard of Southern in 2016, Dallas Derringer of Southern and Catelynn Alpiger of Eastern High School in 2017 and Aaron Coomes of Waggener High School and Caitlin Roy of Brown High School in 2018. We thank the Courier-Journal and its sport staff for recognize the work Special Olympics athletes do, both in our traditional program and in representing their schools and including them in these awards.