Priscilla Trojano and Cole Sulser Named Dartmouth Athletes of the Week

Athlete of the Week Archives

Each week, DartmouthSports.com will spotlight two outstanding student-athletes - one male, one female - as Dartmouth's Athletes of the Week. Student-athletes may be chosen based upon their efforts both on and off the field of competition.

Two sophomores had big weekends for Dartmouth, as Priscilla Trojano won the heptathlon at Ivy Heptagonal Championships and Cole Sulser helped the baseball team win its second straight Ivy Championship. Trojano made it a clean sweep on the year, having also won the Ivy Championship in the heptathlon at the Indoor Heps. Sulser helped Dartmouth come from behind to win Game 2 and secured a save in Game 3 to lead the Big Green to the Ivy Championship at Columbia.

Dartmouth Female Athlete of the Week:
Priscilla Trojano (W. Bridgewater, Mass.), Track and Field, Heptathlon, Sophomore
Sophomore Priscilla Trojano (West Bridgewater, Mass.) became a first team All-Ivy honoree for the second time this season as she won the heptathlon at the 2010 Outdoor Ivy League Heptagonal Championships at Princeton. Trojano kept her lead after the first day of competition and ended up no worse than third in the final three events of the heptathlon. She won the 800 meters, which was the final race of the day for the multi's, with a time of 2:21.43. Trojano had a healthy gap after the last race, winning the heptathlon with 4787 points. She finished 166 points ahead of Nicole Silva of Harvard, who took second. Trojano earned first team All-Ivy honors for winning the indoor pentathlon at Indoor Ivy Heps last February.

How does it feel to sweep both indoor and outdoor multi-events this season, especially as just a sophomore?
It feels pretty awesome, especially after last year's heptathlon where I didn't even make it on the podium. I'm really excited for the next two years!

It was a little different than the indoor pentathlon as you won by a comfortable margin. Does your mindset change when you are in the lead for most of the two days?
My mindset changed a little. With every event, I gained a little more confidence. I was able to have fun, rather than stress between and during every event. I get the most nervous before the 800 because it's both the last event and the most painful. So indoors, going into that event in fourth place was terrible. I really didn't want the whole meet to come down to the 800. So I did my best to make sure it didn't! Before the 800, rather than feeling ill at the start line, I was actually smiling. I could just relax and run my race, which was such a relief.

Out of the all the events, which one do you look forward to competing in and why?
I've been a hurdler since the 7th grade. I'm really comfortable in that race and actually have fun running it. It's the first event so it's nice to get a good start to the competition.

Where did your inspiration come from to start competing in multi-events?
My coach in high school thought I'd do well in the multi-event so I did my first heptathlon as a freshman. And I think I'd hate training for just one event. Training for seven keeps me busy.

Dartmouth Male Athlete of the Week:
Cole Sulser (Santa Ysabel, Calif.), Baseball, RHPitcher, Sophomore

Sulser made the difference in the Ivy Championship Series for the baseball team this past weekend, winning one game out of the bullpen and earning the save in the decisive game three. In his first outing, he entered the wild game in the sixth with the Big Green trailing by a run in the sixth at 9-8, and proceeded to quiet the Lion bats on two hits over the next three innings, allowing just a single run. His pitching allowed Dartmouth to score seven times and put the game away for a 15-10 triumph. In the final game, he came on in the sixth again to protect a one-run lead, and he again shut the door as he struck out five over the final 3.1 innings to clinch the crown for Dartmouth. Sulser for the season leads the Ivy League with 54 strikeouts and has a perfect 7-0 record wih a 3.91 ERA.

You entered the last game of the championship series with a slim one-run lead. What was your plan of attack to subdue a team that had scored double-digit runs in each of the first two games of the series?
The plan was pretty simple, to just go in and attack the hitters. I wanted to try and work quickly and efficiently. My goal was to throw fastballs low in the strike zone on both the inside and outside of the plate. I felt if I could do this then hopefully Columbia would have a tough time barreling up the pitches, and I knew I could trust my defense to make the outs behind me.

You were dealing with a freak injury to your pitching hand this past weekend. What was it and how did you cope with it?
Earlier in the week I cut the end of my thumb open. At first I was a little worried that it might keep me from pitching over the weekend. But the trainer and I kept it wrapped up and taped for practices during the week so as to keep the cut closed. For the weekend we just did our best to make sure it wasn't going to affect my pitching and we just tried to keep the cut from reopening.

You worked as a weekend starter last year but were put into a different role as a stopper out of the bullpen this year, throwing three innings at a in most of your outings. How is your mindset different as a starter compared to a reliever?
Coming out of the bullpen you just try to go right after the other hitters and not waste too many pitches. As a starter you often try to set up your off speed stuff, but as a reliever you don't worry as much about that. You know that you will only face most the hitters once or twice that game so you just try to work as efficiently as possible. With only throwing three innings you also don't have to worry about trying to save something for the later innings like you might while starting.

As a California native, how did you end up attending Dartmouth College to play baseball?
Originally I never thought of attending an Ivy League institution. But the Dartmouth baseball program contacted me and I started looking into it. I came out for a visit my senior year and really enjoyed the campus. When it came down to it, I would get to continue my baseball career at a division-1 program and get an Ivy League education. It was just an opportunity that I really couldn't pass up.

With this your second straight year of participating in a regional, how do you feel last year's experience will help this year's team?
I believe last year's experience should help give us a little more confidence in the regional this year. We played a great game last year again North Carolina, so for guys on the team who where there it should really help make us confident in our abilities.

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