Sports Briefs: FCD's Baker sets national age-group record

SWIMMING

FCD's Baker sets national age-group record

Kathleen Baker of Forsyth Country Day School set a national record and three more state records this past weekend in the North Carolina age-group championships in Greensboro.

Swimming for the Mecklenburg Aquatic Club in the 13-14 age group, Baker was clocked at 52.87 in the 100-yard backstroke, breaking the state record and lowering the national record in the process.

Baker also set state records in winning the 100-yard freestyle (49.88), the 100-yard breaststroke (1:02.26) and the 100-yard butterfly (53.46), and she won the 50-yard freestyle (23.01).

Swimmers from STAR aquatics also broke several state records. Kayla Tennant won nine events in 11-12 girls and set a state record in the 100-yard butterfly and swam with Makeng Markat, Emily Schoolhagen and Kat Morrison on record-setting 400-yard medley and 400-yard freestyle relays. Levente Bathory won seven events in 11-12 boys and swam on record-setting 400-yard medley and 400-yard freestyle relays with Tucker Burhans, Zach Weir, Andrew Taylor and Cameron Davenport.

COLLEGES

Albemarle star commits to UNC

R.J. Prince, one of the state's top high school juniors, committed to play football at North Carolina while on a visit to Chapel Hill, giving coach Larry Fedora his fourth member of the recruiting class of 2013.

Prince is a 6-foot-6, 280-pound offensive lineman at Albemarle High School. He had been committed to Clemson, and had also been offered scholarships by N.C. State and South Carolina.

"Carolina is the place I would love to spend my four years in college," Prince said Monday. "I thought long and hard about my future, and I thought Carolina would be best for me in terms of academics.

"I hope to go to the NFL, and I think I can get there with the help of all the coaches at Carolina."

After changing his commitment once, Prince said that his future is set.

"I'm sticking with Carolina," he said.

ACC reprimands basketball official

The Atlantic Coast Conference has publicly reprimanded official Karl Hess for failing to follow procedure when ejecting two former N.C. State stars from the stands during a weekend game.

In a statement Monday night, the league said it had conducted a "thorough review" of the events leading up to Hess' ejections of former Wolfpack stars Chris Corchiani and Tom Gugliotta from seats behind the scorer's table during Saturday's loss to Florida State.

"The ACC has established a game management protocol, which allows the opportunity to potentially diffuse any situations before they reach the level of ejection," ACC commissioner John Swofford said in the statement. "His reprimand is a result of a failure to follow that protocol."

The reprimand doesn't reveal a reason why Hess ejected Corchiani and Gugliotta. Hess declined comment several times after the game.

Corchiani tweeted after the game that Hess "didn't like fact Googs and I told him he was having a bad day, inconsistent, and telling the truth."

Tide suspends Mitchell for season

Coach Anthony Grant of Alabama suspended junior forward Tony Mitchell for the rest of the basketball season on Monday, but he cleared senior JaMychal Green to return to practice.

Grant said earlier Monday he didn't expect either to play Thursday night at Arkansas. He didn't elaborate on his decisions or a timeline for Green to return in a brief statement released by Alabama, and hasn't said what the two players did wrong.

Mitchell has missed the past four games; Green has been suspended for the past three. Guards Andrew Steele and Trevor Releford were suspended at the same time as Green but only missed the LSU game.

Mitchell and Green are the team's top scorers and rebounders. Green is averaging 14.1 points and 7.2 rebounds while Mitchell averaged 13.1 points and 7.0 rebounds.

HOCKEY

Peters gets shutout for Canes

Eric Staal had two goals and an assist, Justin Peters cruised to his first NHL shutout, and the Carolina Hurricanes routed the reeling Washington Capitals 5-0 on Monday night at the RBC Center in Raleigh.

Justin Faulk and Anthony Stewart scored in an 88-second span, and Andreas Nodl added a goal during Carolina's three-goal first period.

Peters needed to make just 17 saves to win his second-straight start.

Journal staff, wire reports