Three Ocean City Athletes Sign Letters of Intent to Compete in College

With a stroke of a pen, three Ocean City High School athletes made their college choices official Thursday afternoon.

Red Raider seniors Jenn Staab, James Ruff and Miles Schoedler signed letters of intent to compete at the college level, while parents and coaches looked on.

Staab is staying in the Garden State to play field hockey at Rutgers University. Ruff committed to play soccer at Philadelphia University, and Schoedler will be running for Georgetown University.

"I was definitely looking forward to today," Ruff said. "I've always seen it in the papers from years before with people who go on to play in college. It's exciting."

"This is the next step," Schoedler said. "I've already been committed for a while, but this is official. It's a relief."

Staab, a talented midfield player, who led the Red Raiders to their third straight Group III South championship with 23 goals and 10 assists, has been looking forward to this day for five years.

"Ever since I got in the Futures Program in the eighth grade, I considered playing at the collegiate level," said Staab, who plans to study to be a physical therapist. "I started searching since the ninth grade."

What she found is that Rutgers has everything she was looking for in a school and a field hockey program.

"Location, academics, really it has it all," said Staab, who made the decision last June. "It's well-balanced there."

Schoedler is the latest Ocean City distance runner, following Brett Johnson and Renee Tomlin, to earn a place at a Division I University. The Ocean City runner is among the best distance runners in the country, and had had several options when it came to picking a school, including Oregon, Columbia and Villanova.

"We have a great tradition of runners who have gone on to Division I programs and through the process it has inspired me to make a commitment and get into a school like that," Schoedler said.

Schoedler, who plans on majoring in political science and minoring in English on his way to a law degree, believes Georgetown was the right place to run and study.

"Being around that environment will be very beneficial to my academic career," Schoedler said.

Ruff picked his destination roughly a month ago. The senior was an all-star fullback in the fall.

"In the beginning of my freshman year, I didn't think of playing in college, but after I started playing club ball, it's what I wanted to do."

"It's a really nice campus, a nice area and all-around a nice school," said Ruff, who plans to major in business. "And the academics are also good."