COURTLAND—Lindsay Raulston , a senior at Southampton Academy, has been named the Virginia state champion of the prestigious Wendy’s Heisman Award.

Raulston was named the female school winner for Southampton Academy back in October and then was placed in the running for the top 20 finalists in Virginia.

She was selected a state finalist in November and was notified in December that she was the Virginia state champion. Of the more than 54,000 applicants, Raulston became one of the 102 national finalists.

Raulston was surprised to win the state award.

“I was very surprised. I figured I was going to win the school award. I was very surprised to see my name there (for the state award),” Raulston said.

To go along with the award, Raulston also received medals and Wendy’s gift cards worth $100.

Raulston leads the senior class at Southampton Academy with a 4.32 grade point average. She participates in volleyball, basketball, and tennis. She has been named to the Virginia Commonwealth Conference All-Academic teams for all three sports.

The last two years, Raulston was named to the All-State team in volleyball and was the VCC MVP. She scored her 1,000th point in basketball as a junior.

In her spare time, she has been involved in many extracurricular activities and has held leadership roles in many of them.

She has participated in High School Drama Productions, Scrabble Club, Book Club, Scholastic Bowl, Beta Club, Forensics Competition, SADD Club, National Jr. Honor Society, Student Government, and was elected by faculty to serve on High School Honor Council. Lindsay also attended the week-long National Youth Leadership Forum on Medicine at Georgetown University last summer.

“Lindsay Raulston is an inspiration to those around her and represented their school and community well in the all stages of Wendy’s High School Heisman award judging,” said Archie Griffin, the only two-time winner of the prestigious Heisman Memorial Trophy and Wendy’s High School Heisman program spokesperson.

Created in 1994, WHSH has set the standard for high school student-athletes and gained tremendous prestige in its own right.

To date, more than 188,000 high school students have represented their schools and been touched by the Heisman glory.