Hurdles a family tradition for Clinton Dragons’ Lucas Butz
Clinton’s multi-sport athlete Lucas Butz was the fifth- place finisher in the 300-meter hurdles at the 2024 state track and field championship meet in Murfrees- boro in May.
Butz, a rising senior for both the Dragons’ football and track and field teams, made a bit of school history on the track recently when he became the first Clinton athlete to qualify for the Spring Fling in approximately a decade.
He closed out the school year in May by posting a fifth-place finish in the Class AA 300-meter hurdles at Dean Hayes Stadium at Middle Tennessee State University in Murfreesboro. He completed the race in 43.35 seconds.
After track season, Butz, who came to Clinton after moving to Tennessee from Florida, began preparations for the 2024 football season. He is CHS’s long snapper, and also plays tight end, wide receiver and safety.
A Top 5 finish was big for the Clinton track program, but Butz said the atmosphere at the state track meet took him a bit by surprise.
“It was a great experience,” Butz said of competing in the Midstate. “But it didn’t really hit me how big it was until I got there.
Butz was a lone wolf at the state championships, another difference for an ultimate team player.
“It was also a little interesting for me not to have any of my teammates there,” Butz said.
The rising Clinton senior hails from an athletic family.
His father, Robert, was a high school hurdler and a long snapper on the gridiron. His brother, Elijah, was also a high school athlete. Robert currently works at Crown College in Powell. The school is affiliated with Temple Baptist Church.
“My dad was a big influence on me,” Butz said. “He was a hurdler and he was a long snapper and my brother was a hurdler.
“I’ve been a long snapper since I was a freshman.”
Faith and family are pillars in Butz’s life.
“I had both of my parents there; I had my mom, my dad, my brother and my sister all there,” he said. “I have great support from my family, my coaches and my teammates, and it’s really nice to have a lot of support.”
Faith is also at the forefront of his life.
“I have to remember to be thankful to God for all that he’s done for me,” Butz said. “I really enjoy going to church and being around my friends there.”
Butz is a college football fan, and being from Florida, his original loyalty was to Florida State. But that has changed.
“I used to like to the Seminoles, but in the last couple of years, I started liking Georgia because they haven’t gotten players from the transfer portal,” he said. “In pro football, I like Miami.”
Away from the track and football fields, Butz is a fisherman.
“I really like to get away and go fishing,” he said. “I’ve never hunted, but I’d like to do that.
“I have a boat that I’m working and I also have a job, so I work,” he said.
Clinton track Coach Tim Kumes said Butz has made a swift and enormous impact on his program.
“Lucas is a leader and he really does well working with the younger kids in our program,” Kumes said. “He’s a great representative for Clinton High School and his team.
“He’s a great kid and he comes from a great family,” the coach said.
“He was the first athlete we had to make it to state in at least 10 years and he did a great job.
“He was a little disappointed after state, but now, he knows what it takes to compete in Tennessee at the state level.”
Butz culminated his junior year on the Volunteer State’s grand track stage, but he also had a hand in a monumental football victory for the Dragons last fall.
Clinton stunned Region 3-5A rival Oak Ridge at Blankenship Field in the second round of the playoffs, and qualified for the state quarterfinals for the first time since the early 1990s.
That comeback win over the Wildcats, who won the region championship, was huge for the team and the community.
“I’m happy that we beat Oak Ridge,” Butz said.
“That was big for us, even though we lost to them the first time.”