Olympic lovin’
On March 3, senior zoology major Annie Rogers was sitting on her computer, constantly updating her Twitter feed waiting to find out which lucky girl had won a date with Olympian Nick Goepper.
Much to Rogers’ surprise, that lucky girl was her.
“I had no clue ahead of time at all, I found out when everybody else did,” Rogers said. “My Twitter kind of blew up after that, I got like 500 followers in one night, which was weird.”
Rogers remixed the song “I’m Yours” by Jason Mraz on Feb. 15, using the hashtag #iwanttodatenick to enter herself into the contest she would end up winning.
Goepper treated Rogers to an all-expenses paid weekend in New York, where she arrived on Saturday morning and was driven to her suite in the four-star Le Parker Meridien New York hotel.
The two hung out for a bit before embarking on all of their dates, and even though Rogers was being wined and dined by an Olympian for a weekend, she said she never got nervous or star-struck.
“He made me feel really comfortable. We had a lot to talk about, and we were so busy doing different things that I didn’t really have time to think about [it]… we got stopped in Times Square with girls trying to take pictures with him and stuff, but that was the only place he really got swamped by people because other than that we were with security or moving too fast for people to know what was going on,” Rogers said.
The two saw the Broadway musical “After Midnight,” starring Vanessa Williams, and ate at notable restaurants such as the Empire Steak House, The Smith and Buca Di Beppo.
They also attended a Rangers hockey game, which Rogers said was her and Nick’s favorite activity. The pair sat a few rows up from the bench, next to “Little Miss Sunshine” star Abigail Breslin. Paparazzi even snapped photos of the two watching the game.
Between periods, the two had passes to enter Suite 200, the suite used by the owner of Madison Square Garden.
“We got to hang out with some athletes from the Giants and Mets and some media people,” Rogers said.
Most surprising of all? Rogers and Goepper also got to meet the Prince of Sweden. “He was up in Suite 200, so that was crazy,” Rogers said.
The two also attended a Mets game, shopped and walked through Central Park and Times Square.
After Goepper told Rogers how much he loved her video, she played her guitar and sang to the young Olympian, giving him a live concert while hanging out at the hotel.
“We had separate rooms, in case anyone asks,” Rogers laughed.
Rogers knows there is one question burning on everyone’s mind: Is it love? Will we be seeing a Rogers/Goepper romance?
“It’s not to say that it would never happen, but we’re both at such different places it’s kind of hard to even think about that … he’s so busy with skiing he’s not in the right place for a serious relationship and I’m not really either since I’m getting ready to transition from undergrad to grad school, but we’re definitely good friends. We get along really well,” Rogers said.
It was obvious that the two really did have a positive experience meeting each other — Rogers was all smiles when describing their date. She said the two are definitely planning on meeting up again, especially when Goepper will be in Ohio for the summer.
While the media coverage of Rogers’ story has been pretty crazy, Rogers said she is happy she got the experience.
“I can’t complain, I just got an amazing free weekend in New York — so I’m happy.”
Contact Erin Zaranec at [email protected].