RETURNING TO THE FRAY: Kelsey Reelick, center, competes in the U.S. women’s 4 earlier this year. Reelick, a 2014 Princeton grad and former Tiger women’s open crew star, will be rowing in the U.S. 4 at the upcoming Paris 2024 Olympics. After taking a four-year hiatus from the sport, Reelick returned to rowing to join the U.S. program in 2018 and worked her way up the ranks. (Photo by Row2k, provided courtesy of USRowing)

By Bill Alden

For Kelsey Reelick, earning a spot on the U.S. rowing team for the Paris 2024 Olympics turned out to be a sister act.

Former Princeton University women’s open rowing star Reelick ’14 joined the U.S. program in 2018 after four years in the working world, inspired by the success of younger sister, Erin, also a Tiger rowing standout, on the national stage.

“Erin graduated in 2016, she stayed in the area and joined the national team,” said Reelick. “Right off the bat, she won speed orders, she was fantastic in the pair and then she just proceeded to make every boat. She made the 4, she stroked the 8. She won a world championship in the 4 in 2018. She was a huge powerhouse. I was in D.C. and it was wow, that is incredible to see her do that. I want to do that. If she can make it through, I can make it through so I moved to Princeton and started training.”

Working her way up the ladder, the older Reelick made the U.S. 8 in 2022 and competed for the 4 in 2023. Looking to book her spot to the Paris 2024 Olympics in a pressure-packed selection process, Reelick’s chances came down to competing against her younger sister, who had rejoined the program after taking a break from rowing.

“My final seat race was with Erin because we are both on the same side of the boat,” said Reelick. “We went to talk to the coaches. It was just too hard. She said to them put Kelsey at the spot, I will drop out. I owe my spot on the Olympic team to my sister, not only for showing me that I could make it on the national team but also being that person who was by my side helping me through selection camp. Then on the very last seat race, letting me take that spot without making me have to go through that.”

Understandably, Reelick experienced some mixed emotions upon gaining her place on the U.S. squad in such circumstances.

“It was simultaneously wonderful to find out and just exhausting,” said Reelick. “It was a very tough process. Selection camp, in my mind, is the worst part of rowing. You have this team of people that you train with, that you care for, and you have to be selfish. You have to work for yourself.”

Enjoying a wonderful start to her Princeton career in 2011, Reelick helped the varsity 8 win a gold medal at the NCAA championships as the only freshman in the boat.

“What stands out to me from that is the leadership in the boat,” said Reelick, 32, who took up rowing in New Zealand in 2005 and later moved to Connecticut where she competed for the Connecticut Boat Club and GMS Rowing. “There were a number of seniors in the boat so I was swept up with their leadership and this drive to make it to the grand final and to medal. We won and it was a little bit unbelievable. I was very young. I knew it was a big deal, I didn’t quite know how big. I wasn’t on the same level as these girls who were just grinding away for years to do this. I was lucky to be a part of it.”

Reelick grinded through some ups and downs over the rest of her Princeton career.

“There were highs and lows, freshman year I came in, I was very energized,” said Reelick. “I would say sophomore year and junior year I struggled a little bit. There are a lot of pressures in college as we all know. I got a little bit overwhelmed. I found that I still loved rowing and things started to pick up in my senior year. I felt like I found the love and the joy again. I had a pretty good year, considering that our team wasn’t as full of heavy hitters. We won the Ivy League and did all of these wonderful things.”

While Reelick joined the U.S. program in 2018, she didn’t make a big jump up the ranks until the coaching changes that came in the wake of the Tokyo Olympics in 2021 which saw Josy Verdonkschot named as USRowing’s chief high performance officer and Jessie Foglia coming in as the head coach of the USRowing Training Center.

“I felt that under the new regime, I was able to learn a lot more,” said Reelick. “I didn’t feel like I was caught up in the wave of people just trying to smash our way into the big boats. I was allowed to slow things down and find how I can move the boat by myself in a pair and move the boat to gain speed that way as opposed to feeling a franticness of just being aggressive or muscling it. The new regime allowed all of us to take our time.”

Reelick’s time to shine for the national program finally came in 2022.

“It was a very good year, I made the 8,” said Reelick. “We had a bad final race at world championships, taking fourth place. All in all, it was a bit of a disappointing season but we knew what it was going to take and we knew what could be done. So the next year, we split into a 4 and an 8. I was in the 4 and again we got fourth in the world championships. We had a sense of what we needed to do to start doing really well.”

Looking ahead to Paris, Reelick senses that her 4 has already developed a special chemistry.

“I have to separate the guilt and sadness from the excitement; I am in a boat with three wonderful people,” said Reelick, who will row in second seat with Kate Knifton from the University of Texas at stroke seat, Daisy Mazzio-Manson, a Yale alumna, in three seat, and fellow Princeton alumna Emily Kallfelz ’19 in bow. “We get along really well. They are fantastic, they have helped me get excited about the next thing.”

The boat did well in its international debut, taking third in the World Cup II regatta in Lucerne, Switzerland, this May.

“That was exciting for us because it still feels like a newish lineup, we are still figuring stuff out and what kind of racers are we,” said Reelick, whose boat will start heats at the Paris Games on July 28 with the final slated for August 1. “Are we able to put a lot into the sprint of the race, or can we throw some good moves in the middle? It is how do we operate as a group. I think we have nailed down what we can do. We are still learning. I think that we are going to get our feet under us quickly in Paris. I look forward to seeing what we can do. We are just hungry, we want to be in the race now.”

Having her Princeton head coach Lori Dauphiny working with the 4 has helped the group make progress.

“She is one of those people that betters the sport,” said Reelick of Dauphiny. “She makes it more exciting, she makes it more competitive. She changes lives. As far as I am concerned, she is the queen of rowing. She is absolutely wonderful. We are very lucky to have her and I am lucky that she gets to coach me again.”

In Reelick’s view, the boat has what it takes to compete for a medal in Paris.

“We are a very unconcerned crew, we are pretty good at staying in the hull and just staying locked in,” said Reelick. “We don’t get shaken very easily. We row very well in all conditions — headwind, crosswind, tailwind. It is unusual to be in a boat that feels so good in a crosswind or a headwind but for whatever reason, we do. It is just adjusting to whatever the conditions are, staying internal and doing what we do best which I think might be our last 1K of the race.”

Looking ahead, Reelick believes that the Paris Games may be her last rowing competition.

“Most likely this is going to be my last hurrah,” said Reelick. “I am already thinking a lot about this boat. I have a group of people around me that I would want to have my last race with which makes me feel like this could be some really wonderful closure. Obviously having a medal would be great but whatever happens, I feel very happy about the past three years. I have had a great time.”

But without a great younger sister, things might not have turned so wonderfully for Reelick.