LAS CRUCES, N.M. (April 26)-New Mexico State swimming and diving head coach Rick Pratt has signed Kaitlyn Hogan to a National Letter of Intent. Hogan, a freestyle and backstroke specialist from Southlake, Texas, joins Kara Schweitzer, Victoria Palombit, Jessica Legge and Aliena Schmidtke in the 2011 Class.

“We are thrilled to have signed Kaitlyn Hogan in the late signing period,” Pratt said. “With our very strong fall signees we only need to fill a couple holes, and Kaitlyn will do that for us.”

Hogan swims for coach Bill Christensen and the North Texas Nadadores. Her personal best times include 24.90 in the 50 free, 53.02 in the 100 free, 1:53.17 in the 200 free, 5:05.78 in the 500 free, 58.91 in the 100 back and 2:06.69 in the 200 back.

“She is a hard-working individual with strong leadership qualities and someone who our team really enjoyed getting to know during her visit,” he said. “She’s been improving well especially this past spring and has good potential in both freestyle and backstroke events. I am very excited to coach her and when adding her to the list with our other four recruits already committed, this will not be the largest freshmen class to come to Las Cruces, but certainly the most talented.”

In addition, Schweitzer joins the Aggies from Highlands Ranch, Colo., and swims for the Denver Hilltoppers and coach Shawn Smith. She specializes in the breaststroke, butterfly and individual medley events. Schweitzer’s best times includes 1:06.21 in the 100 breast, 2:20.32 in the 200 breast and 4:31.14 in the 400 IM.

Palombit is a sprint freestyle specialist from Lubbock, Texas, that swims for coach Trey Hayes and the Lubbock Swim Club. Her personal best times include 23.87 in the 50 free and 51.62 in the 100 free. Next season, Palombit joins her older sister, Gina, who is a junior on the Aggies’ squad, in Las Cruces.

Legge, a Newcastle, New South Wales, Australia native, specializes in breaststroke and IM events. Her best times are 1:10.5 in the 100 breast (LCM), 2:31.8 in the 200 breast (LCM), 2:19.1 in the 200 IM (LCM) and 4:53.3 in the 400 IM (LCM).

Schmidtke joins the Crimson and White from Bad Segeberg, Germany and the Magdeburg Swim Club, which is the same team as current Aggie junior Maria Spies. Schmidtke’s personal best times are 25.9 in the 50 free (LCM), 56.4 in the 100 free (LCM), 2:02.2 in the 200 free (LCM) and 1:01.0 in the 100 fly (LCM).