Reporting prep results

Reporting prep results

The Vindicator encourages coaches and statisticians to report prep results by email (sports@vindy.com) or fax (330-747-6712).

Phone calls (330-747-1478) are also acceptable but emails and faxes are strongly preferred. Deadline is 10:30 p.m.

Grant out at ND because of academics

SOUTH BEND, Ind.

Notre Dame will enter its first season in the Atlantic Coast Conference without leading scorer Jerian Grant.

The university posted a statement from Grant on its web site Sunday evening that said he is no longer enrolled at Notre Dame “due to an academic matter that I did not handle properly.”

“I take full responsibility for my lack of good judgment and the poor decision that I made. I have no one to blame but myself for the situation,” he wrote. “I know and understand the expectations that go with being a student at Notre Dame and I did not live up to those standards.”

Grant is the second high-profile athlete to be suspended from Notre Dame in the past year for academics. Quarterback Everett Golson was suspended from school for the fall semester for academic impropriety, but was readmitted on Dec. 13.

Hollywood Park closes for good

INGLEWOOD, Calif.

Fans crowded into Betfair Hollywood Park for the last time Sunday.

The track closed for good after the day’s 11 races, ending 75 years of racing that featured such thoroughbred stars as Seabiscuit, Triple Crown winners Citation, Seattle Slew and Affirmed, and Zenyatta. The first Breeders’ Cup in 1984 was run here. The track will be turned into a residential and retail development starting next year.

For its last day, though, the track came alive again, with jammed parking lots, lines at the betting windows, and fans and employees swapping stories about the Track of the Lakes and Flowers. Paid attendance exceeded 13,000 — more than double that of a typical weekend — and after 2 p.m. the gates were opened to everyone to alleviate congestion, a track spokesman said.

Claiborne arrested on drug charges

COLLEGE STATION, Texas

Texas A&M suspended standout freshman linebacker Darian Claiborne after he was arrested on two drug possession charges.

Claiborne was arrested Sunday on charges of possession of a dangerous drug and possession of less than two ounces of marijuana, according to the Brazos County Jail website. He was arrested at about 3 p.m. and released less than two hours later after posting $6,000 bond.

Claiborne, tied for the team lead with 89 tackles, will miss the Chick-Fil-A Bowl against Duke on Dec. 31.

Alex Cabrera breaks Venezuelan HR record

CARACAS, Venezuela

Former major leaguer Alex Cabrera has broken a three-decade-old Venezuelan record for most home runs in a season.

Cabrera hit his 21st home run on Sunday, a grand slam that soared into the left-field bleachers and surpassed the tally set in 1980 by former big league catcher Bo Diaz.

Cabrera, who turns 42 on Dec. 24, dedicated the feat to his wife. He said she arrived on Sunday in Venezuela from the United States.

“She gave me a kiss before the game and wished me luck,” he said. “I think that’s what calmed me down.”

Duke women beat Kentucky

LEXINGTON, Ky.

Tricia Liston scored a season-high 28 points to help No. 2 Duke beat No. 5 Kentucky 69-61 victory before 23,706 fans at Rupp Arena on Sunday.

Five days after defending champion and No. 1 Connecticut soundly dealt the Blue Devils their first loss, they used their size and length to hand the Wildcats their first defeat before the largest crowd to see a women’s game in Kentucky.

Staff/wire reports