Reflections On Living History

Annabelle Hasselbeck was never supposed to stand that close to the Vice President of the United States.

The student-athlete representative for the Boston College lacrosse program was going to stand among her peers for the White House's annual event honoring college sports' national champions. Like her teammates, she walked the grounds and introduced herself to other representatives with a congratulatory handshake or hug before spending time with the other Eagles bonded forever by the trophy earned in May's come-from-behind win over Northwestern. She laughed about how BC could have held the event in a dark, unlit closet space somewhere in the middle of nowhere, but she understood how she would stand with some of the greatest college athletes of the 2023-2024 season.

She'd practiced from a position in the back row, which is why she panicked when a White House staff member specifically called her name ahead of the lineup for the event with Kamala Harris.

"I'm sitting back, and right before we went out, someone just started screaming, 'Where is Annabelle? Where is the girl in the yellow dress?'" Hasselbeck recalled after the event. "I was just thinking that I got in massive trouble and couldn't think about what I had done, and then [the staff member] proceeded to tell me that they needed a pop of color behind [the vice president]. They wanted to switch me with someone else because I was wearing bright yellow, and then all of a sudden, I realized I was going to be near Kamala Harris."

What Hasselbeck didn't know was that she was about to become a certified centerpiece on one of the most consequential days in United States history. Politics aside, standing that close to a vice president - the second-highest ranking office holder in the nation's government - is an honor unto itself, but the events leading up to Monday's event at the White House added an unfathomable amount of cameras and microphones.

Instantaneously, Annabelle Hasselbeck became an infamous piece of a Vice President's first step into a presidential campaign season. It was yet another chapter to the championship legacy and pedigree baked into Boston College's 2024 national title-winning run.

"I think it was just really cool to be surrounded by other athletes from all around the country," Hasselbeck said. "We're all champions, so we were sharing the same congratulations in our introductions. But it was such a historical day in politics - that it's our nation in an election year - that I definitely had a sense of being overwhelmingly humbled for program. The fact that we were together is special, and the White House is a lifelong memory - but I also think our team would have been content sitting in an empty room just so we could be together again."

Last week marked a consequential transition period in United States history after Joe Biden announced he would no longer seek reelection to a second term as the nation's president. It sent shockwaves through the entire national landscape and immediately injected debate and conversation into every facet of a blistering-hot news cycle still reeling from the dramatic events leading up to the Republican National Convention.

That Biden's announcement shifted the presidential campaign to Harris was of little consequence to the athletes standing behind the vice president, but the moment lent dramatic aura to what instantly became her first public speaking engagement as a candidate. That Hasselbeck stood behind Harris in that moment likewise had nothing to do with politics, but she also understood that the number of people watching that moment grew exponentially after President Biden stepped back from his November showdown with Donald Trump.

"Once we got into the stands, I just saw all of the media," Hasselbeck said, "and there was no doubt that the entire world was about to see my face. It wasn't about me, but I suddenly became aware of my facial expressions. If I locked knees and passed out, the entire world would see it and I'd be viral on [social media], so I just kept trying to find my teammates in the crowd [because] it was a little hard to see everyone. Even to be in the presence of a Vice President, I'd never been in the presence of the Vice President."

The moment encapsulated the steely nerves associated with the Boston College national championship run. A member of the lacrosse team sought her teammates whenever the nerves struck or the stress levels rose to heightened levels, and she embraced the moment for a lifelong memory. She soaked in the moment while thinking about both her literal and figurative family, and in many ways, she stuck out as a champion of champions because of the lessons learned from those days practicing and playing under the BC flag.

"I've been thinking about it a lot since graduating," said Hasselbeck. "There was no doubt in anyone's mind about becoming national champions or becoming the best, and that came from confidence from our coaches and confidence in our teammates. With those girls on my team, I knew I couldn't lose, and if those girls have my back, I can't lose. If this was how hard my coaches worked, I couldn't lose, and I think that the legacy and confidence was solidified in the daily [grind]. As special as it was to go to the White House or have the celebrations and parties that are being had for us, it was about the blood, the sweat, and the tears and the trust in the relationships that we had within this team."

Ironically, that's what the event in Washington, D.C. was designed to celebrate. Becoming a champion is one of the rarest honors in college sports, and the men and women standing on the White House grounds collectively represented a celebrated group unlike anything in NCAA history. In many ways, it was an unprecedented event - one that maybe wasn't along the lines of a Vice President speaking for the first time as a presumptive or assumed nominee for a presidential election but one that solidified exactly why this team won its national championship with the dramatic comeback on the WakeMed Soccer Park field in North Carolina.

"We still talk every day," Hasselbeck said. "Whether it's on social media or texting, that's what's really cool about this team. Every now and then, someone will send a text that says, 'Hey - does anyone remember that we just won the national championship?' That was always the goal, but we were able to reach that goal."

Players Mentioned

Annabelle Hasselbeck

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