Wayne State’s Erin Norling was voted by the league coaches as the inaugural winner of the NSIC Outstanding Senior of the Year.
A native of Loretto, Minn., Norling is a senior majoring in biology/pre-physician assistant and holds a 3.93 cumulative grade-point average.
The “NSIC Outstanding Senior of the Year Award” is presented to a NSIC women’s basketball student-athlete who participates at her institution for four years and is academically superior while making a positive contribution to her team and the university. The NSIC Outstanding Senior of the Year award was initiated in 2020-21 to honor an outstanding senior that exemplifies the attributes of the model NSIC student-athlete.
Norling, a graduate of Delano High School in Minnesota, was named the NSIC South Division Player of the Year after she led the Wildcats in scoring and rebounding for a second straight season, ranking fourth in the NSIC with 16.3 points per game and eighth in the league at 6.8 rebounds a contest. She was named NSIC South Division Player of the Week three times this season and scored double figures in 12 of 16 games with six games of more than 20 points and three double-doubles. Norling scored a season-best 28 points at Northern State in an 81-73 win and scored 25 points in a 74-60 win over Southwest Minnesota State.
She closed her Wildcat career ranked fourth in scoring with 1,597 points and scored double figures in 84 career games. Norling earned All-NSIC honors every year at WSC, named to the All-Freshmen Team in 2018 followed by three straight First Team All-NSIC awards. She scored double figures in 49 straight games through her sophomore and junior seasons and had 10 or more points in 84 of her 104 games played in a Wildcat uniform.
Last season, Norling became Wayne State's first-ever Academic All-American in women's basketball earning Second Team honors and was D2CCA All-Central Region Second Team.
Off the court, Norling has represented Wildcat women’s basketball on the Student Athlete Advisory Committee for three years and is a member of Fellowship of Christian Athletes. She has also contributed countless hours of service to the community of Wayne that included assisting at the local food shelf and packing food for the Wayne Backpack Program.
”Erin has made a tremendous impact in her time at Wayne State College. She is an incredible teammate who always makes time to support her friends. Her work ethic, competitiveness and basketball I.Q. are unique and are what makes her special. She has grown her game every year she has been here and has done so while thriving in the classroom. Erin’s impact on our program will be missed and I feel blessed to have coached her.” said coach Brent Pollari.
