Whitefish native Nicole Heavirland will again head to the Olympics.
Heavirland, 29, was selected as an alternate for the 2024 U.S. Women's Olympic Rugby Sevens team, USA Rugby announced Monday. She will travel with the team to Paris as the squad looks to earn a rugby sevens medal for the first time in U.S. history.
Heavirland, 29, will be making her second Olympics appearance. She was also part of the U.S. team that placed sixth at the Tokyo 2020 Olympics, which took place in the summer of 2021 after getting postponed by the COVID-19 pandemic.
Heavirland was selected as a reserve for the Olympic Games Rio in 2016, where the U.S. placed fifth. In 2017, she helped the women's national team advance to the semifinals of the Rugby World Cup in Ireland.
Heavirland attended Kalispell Glacier High School through her junior year before finishing her high school education in New Hampshire. She then enrolled at Army West Point where she became a USA Rugby All-American.
The Olympic Games Paris 2024 are July 26 through Aug. 11, with the women's rugby sevens gold medal match scheduled for July 30.
