1 — At just 20 years old, Norsten has a bright future in the sport.
During the 2023-24 World Rugby Sevens Series — a set of tournaments between December 2023 and this past June for national sevens teams from around the globe — Norsten was named series rookie of the year.
At the University of Victoria, where she is a member of the women’s rugby squad, Norsten was selected as the Canada West conference and U Sports national rookie of the year in 2022, and a Canada West first-team all-star in the 2023 season.
2 — In 2018, 15-year-old Norsten represented Team Lakeland at the Saskatchewan Winter Games in North Battleford, finishing in fifth place. At that point, she had played hockey for a decade. But soon after, she saw her sister Christina on the rugby pitch and decided to give it a try. (Her sister is quite the role model herself, having earned a rugby scholarship to Lindenwood University in St. Charles, Missouri.)
3 — Norsten calls Waldheim — the valley town located approximately 55 kilometres north of Saskatoon — her home. She was the lone Saskatchewan athlete on Canada’s rugby sevens squad.
She moved to Vancouver Island, where the national program is based, before her Grade 12 year. Since her senior year at Queen Margaret’s School, she’s also been a member of the University of Victoria women’s rugby squad.
4 — Her father, Morrie, is one of the all-time great running backs for the University of Saskatchewan football program.
His name is found throughout the team’s record book. Morrie has the fifth-highest single-season rushing total in program history (864 yards in 1994); second-most yards in a game (244 versus Calgary in 1994); and he’s top-10 historically in all-time rushing touchdowns, touchdowns, and all-purpose yards.
He helped the Huskies advance to the 1994 Vanier Cup, where the Dogs lost 50-40 in overtime to the Western Mustangs in what is still widely considered the greatest Vanier Cup ever played.
5 — Norsten and her Canadian teammates shocked the rugby world this week in Paris.
In the quarterfinals, in front of a crowd of 70,000 people largely pulling for the home country, Canada stunned third-ranked France 19-14. Then, in the semi-finals against second-ranked Australia, Canada trailed 12-0 early but went on a massive run to claim a 21-12 win. In the final against the powerhouse defending Olympic champs from New Zealand, Canada led at halftime but ultimately fell 19-12 to earn the silver medals.
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