NORFOLK, Va. – Head coach Matthew Halfpenny and the Norfolk State tennis program added to their 2011 recruiting class with the recent signings of Laura Gutierrez and Shaheed Mourillon-Swift to national letters of intent.

“We are very excited to have Laura and Shaheed join the Spartan tennis program,” said Halfpenny. “Both student-athletes will have an immediate impact on their respective teams. In addition, both show great promise academically, and we look forward to them being a part of the Norfolk State family.”

A native of Miramar, Fla., Mourillon-Swift originally hails from the Caribbean island of Antigua. He was the No. 1 ranked player in Antigua during his junior career and at one point ranked in the top 10 in the Caribbean & Central America Tennis Confederation end-of-year rankings. Mourillon-Swift is a current National Honor Society member at Horeb Christian School in Florida.

Halfpenny also went the international route to add to the women's team, signing Gutierrez out of Bogota, Colombia. She currently ranks in the top 15 in the Colombian Tennis Federation rankings. She will join November signee Kia Batiste, a top 12-ranked player from the state of Tennessee, as freshmen on the 2011-12 NSU women's squad.