From high school teammates to USA National Team teammates to college teammates! Darien High School’s Annika Nelson and Caroline Krantz are heading to New Hampshire together! The dynamic duo will finish their high school rowing career at Connecticut Boat Club and then start their collegiate journey at Dartmouth College. One of the highlights of their high school career took place the summer of 2023 when Nelson and Krantz had the honor of representing Team USA at the Junior World Rowing Championship in Paris, France. “Rowing and racing at the World Championships felt incredibly different then it normally does racing at home. Being surrounded by the best U19 athletes in the world, the level of competition was unparalleled which created an exciting energy amongst all athletes. Each athlete from all nations had so much respect for each other as every athlete had a relatively similar experience in the grit, sacrifices, and hard work it took to get there” Caroline stated as she reflected on the summer.
The pair kicked off the racing in Paris with a 3rd place finish in their heat. Nelson commented,”Our heat was extremely competitive- even though it wasn’t our best race, we were happy with third place, given the crews that finished first and second in the A final as well.” She continued, “Our reps race was very fun. We went in feeling more prepared after having one race under our belt already, and we brought our energy with us down the entire course, pulling ahead of all other boats.” The pair won their repechage with a time of 7:35.75, nearly 5 seconds ahead of Italy and nearly 13 seconds ahead of Spain. Krantz shared, “One of Annika and I’s signature pre-race rituals is a special hand squeeze we created. at the start line right before every race, when the nerves are at their highest, a simple hand squeeze reminds both of us that we are in this together.”
“All Sunday races were cancelled due to wind, we raced our A/B semi Saturday morning, with our B final race only a couple hours later. We started our semifinal race in 5th place, and began to walk on Austria and Germany in the final 500 meters, which was very exciting. We didn’t catch Germany, and missed the A final by a second, but we beat Austria in just our last few strokes of the race. I had never experienced a sprint as intense as the ones in our semifinal and final races” Annika Nelson described. Caroline and Annika raced proudly in the B final representing the US Team, finishing with a time of 7:54.94 placing 9th in the world!
After the spring 2024 season with CBC, Krantz and Nelson will officially be Dartmouth bound! Caroline was asked, did you and Annika both want to go to Dartmouth together? to which she answered, “People always ask us if we ‘committed together’ or were a ‘package deal’ but quite frankly, it was pretty much a complete coincidence that we both ended up committing to Dartmouth. We didn’t know we were going on the same official visit but we both ended up falling in love with the school and rowing program there. I really am so excited to spend another four years with Annika-we have such a great connection not only in the boat but off the water as we have become one of each others best friends!” Nelson shared the same excitement as Krantz and added, “I chose Dartmouth because I saw the team is looking to build, and I think improving as a team and being a part of accomplishing goals for the first time is very exciting and a great source of motivation.”
Both athletes have learned a lot from the sport and from each other. They have had to sacrifice and devote themselves whole heartily to achieve the level of success of today. Training for worlds taught them when you set goals and remain disciplined, goals can be achieved. CBC teammates and coaching staff are so proud of both Annika and Caroline. They are sure to be a duo to look out for in their collegiate racing years! New CBC generations will absolutely know the stories of Krantz and Nelson, as they have left an incredible mark on program history.
