Eleven Tech Tiger athletes signed letters of intent to play collegiate sports Tuesday afternoon in the THS Auditorium. The event was hosted by football coach Jon Benson.

"It's super satisfying," Benson said. "I firmly believe the college experience is so much better when you are on a team and when you are involved in something on campus.

"I encouraged these guys that if you want to play football, we will find you a place to play football."

There were 15 athletes in attendance at the ceremony, with four of them undecided on a college at this time.

"Typically the coaches have kind of taken care of (their own athletes)," Benson said. "I went to (Activities Director) Dave Langerud with the idea that we should open this up, try to get as many athletes as possible and make it a bigger deal."

"The commitment is ridiculous," Benson said. "It's a huge leap of faith these kids are taking... they don't really know what they are getting themselves into."

Among the signees were Isaiah Green, who will play D-1 football at Northern Iowa, and Gabbie Rud, who will continue her hockey career at Cornell.

"When I went to UNI, it felt like home," Green said. "The coaches were great people, they helped while I was there and I learned a lot."

"A lot of the big-time schools said that I was short or I'd have to prove myself," Green explained. "UNI told me right away it didn't matter... they could use me, that was a big thing for me, that they were confident in me."

Gabbie Rud said that her dad, Eric, coaching at St. Cloud State was a factor in her decision. Eric left SCSU for a job at Miami University with their men's team.

"Obviously my dad was coaching (at SCSU) at the time, but I didn't really want to have a parent as a coach," Rud said. "My sophomore year I visited Cornell and I just felt like I was home."

Rud has moved around a lot as the daughter of a college hockey coach. She says that will help her adjust to life far away from home.

"It's shaped me into a resilient person," Rud said. "Just being able to meet new people and I am pretty outgoing, which helps too."

Tech Students Signing Tuesday: 
Peyton Bigaouette - St. John's University baseball
Joe Dolan- SJU baseball
Troy Feddema- SJU football
Vinny Gagliardi- SJU football
Nate Trewick- SJU football
Aaron Voigt- SJU football
Isaiah Green- Northern Iowa football
Karissa Lintgen- SCTCC volleyball
Kedrik Osuorah- Iowa Western football
Gabbie Rud- Cornell University hockey
Hailey Condon- College of St. Benedict swim/dive

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