2 named Wendy's H.S. Heisman state finalists
The route to becoming a Wendy’s High School Heisman national finalist is a long road.
Early stages of the process begin with naming school winners before narrowing the list to state finalists. The list is narrowed even more with state winners before getting to the national level.
On Monday, the Tennessee state finalists were named with two area athletes being honored – University School of Jackson’s Addison Dunn and Madison’s Harrison Holt.
There are 20 total athletes still eligible for the award from the state of Tennessee and 1,000 athletes nationwide
Dunn is an all-state athlete in soccer and softball with a 4.49 GPA with a 31 ACT score. She is involved in the Hope Center with Operation Hope along with camps and services with the Hartland Apartments ministry. At USJ, she is a member of the National Honor Society, Spanish national honor society, Chemistry national honor society.
She also serves as the secretary of the SGA and president of the Key Club.
Holt is a cross country and track athlete for the Mustangs. He will be making his third straight appearance at the Class A-AA state cross country meet on Saturday, and he helped the 4x800 relay team place third at the state meet this past spring. At Madison, he participates in the Math Club, Excel Club, Chess Club, Chorus, Leadership Club for Student Climate, National Honor Society and Beta Club.
Some of the service projects that Holt has done or is soon to do is sending letters to kids in Africa with the National Honor Society, volunteer at the Center for Disabled Adults and volunteer at the Miss Tennessee pageant.
Athletes are chosen based on athletics, academics and community service accomplishments. An athlete must have a GPA of 3.0 or better, a proven leader and role model within their school and community and must perform in at least one of the 43 school sponsored sports recognized by the International Olympic Committee in the Summer and Winter Olympics or the National Federation of State High School Association.
The school winners were named last week with 20 athletes from West Tennessee being honored. The list included: Adamsville’s Mitchell Howie and Shelbie Prather, Big Sandy’s Morgan Allen, Bruceton’s William Bratton and Haley Williams, Camden’s Ally Webb, Hardin County’s Savannah Long, Huntingdon’s Conner Renfroe and Kaitlin Belew, Jackson Christian’s Hunter Higdon and Avery Roland, Liberty’s Malique Bowen and Brooklyn Cunningham, Madison’s Holt and Syndey Simpson, North Side’s Chavis Fuller, TCA’s Andrew Goldsmith, USJ’s Dunn and Westview’s Jordan Hazelwood.
There were 198 total student-athletes chosen in the state of Tennessee for the school winners with 6,880 total named nationwide.
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West Tennessee State Finalists from last nine years
Addison Dunn (USJ) 2015
Harrison Holt (Madison) 2015
Lauren Riddell (USJ) 2012
Lee Mayhall (USJ) 2011
Matthew Joyner (Madison) 2010
Kelsey Carson (South Side) 2009
Karissa Faulk (Jackson Christian) 2009
Morgan Faulkner (Madison) 2008
Jonathan Jones (McNairy) 2008
Williamson Laughrey (McKenzie) 2008
Morgan Goodman (Liberty) 2007