State sports briefs

LITTLE ROCK — FOOTBALL

Ex-Red Wolf Joiner sentenced to 3 years

Former Arkansas State defensive end Brandon Joiner’s NFL career will have to wait after he was sentenced to three years in prison for a 2007 robbery that occurred while he attended Texas A&M. Joiner, 23, of Killeen, Texas, was sentenced Wednesday. He was already on probation for one of two counts of aggravated robbery — which were handed down in January 2008 — before receiving additional punishment in Brazos County District Court, according to court records. In January, Jay Granberry, who is Joiner’s attorney, worked out a plea agreement with prosecutors that allowed Joiner — who was a redshirt senior and transferred from Navarro Junior College in Corsicana, Texas — to finish his studies at Arkansas State. Granberry managed to push back Joiner’s sentencing hearing, originally slated for Jan. 11, until this week to accommodate Joiner graduating from ASU this month. On Wednesday, Granberry told The Eagle in College Station, Texas, he expected Joiner could be released on parole after serving six to nine months in a state prison. On May 1, Joiner signed a free-agent contract, with undisclosed terms, with the Cincinnati Bengals after he was not chosen in April’s NFL Draft. He also participated in the Bengals’ three-day rookie minicamp this month. Joiner led the Sun Belt Conference and ranked fourth nationally with 13 sacks last season. He also led the conference with 19 tackles for loss en route to earning Sun Belt Defensive Player of the Year honors. — Matthew Harris

GOLF

UA women 21st going into final round

Arkansas’ women’s team shot 21-over-par 309 in soaring temperatures and shifting winds Thursday in the third round of the NCAA Championships being played at the Legends Course in Franklin, Tenn. The Razorbacks are 21st at 913, 49 strokes over par, heading into today’s final round. Alabama leads the field at 877, two strokes ahead of Southern California. Purdue, South Carolina and Virginia are tied for third at 883, and LSU (884) is sixth. Arkansas shot 303 in the opening round and 301 in the second round. Sophomore Emily Podzielinski turned in Arkansas’ best round Thursday with a 4-over 76 that left her tied for 54th at 226. Sophomore Emily Tubert leads the Razorbacks at 224, tied for 40th place, but she struggled to a 77 Thursday with a round that included five bogeys on the back nine. Sophomore Emma Lavy is tied for 82nd at 230 after shooting a 78 in the third round, and junior Victoria Vela finished with a 78 and is tied for 101st at 233 for the tournament. Freshman Hally Leadbetter shot a thirdround 70 and is tied for 119th at 238. Oklahoma’s Chirapat Jao-Javanil and Arizona State’s Giulia Molinaro share the lead at 4-under 212.

Arkansas team wins cup

Stan Lee and younger brother Louis Lee led a team of 10 midamateurs and 10 seniors representing the Arkansas State Golf Association to a 22 1/2 to 17 1/2 victory over a team representing the Mississippi Golf Association on Saturday at the Governor’s Cup at Old Waverly Golf Club in West Point, Miss. Stan Lee, the 2007 USGA Senior Amateur Champion, and Louis Lee, the 2011 USGA Senior Amateur Champion, went undefeated in three matches each. Arkansas won the four-ball 5 1/2 to 4 1/2 and the foursomes by the same margin. Needing only 9 1/2 out of 20 possible points in the singles matches, Arkansas won the final day 11 1/2 to 8 1/2. The ASGA will host next year’s event.

TRACK AND FIELD

Arkansas men qualify eight at prelim meet

Arkansas long jumper Raymond Higgs qualified Thursday for the NCAA Championships and eight Razorbacks runners advanced to the quarterfinal round of the NCAA West Preliminary in Austin, Texas. Higgs needed one jump to secure a spot at the national meet as he turned in the day’s best mark with a wind-aided leap of 27 feet. Caleb Cross and Kyle Dunn qualified for the next round of the 400-meter hurdles. Cross was the 12th overall qualifier with a time of 52.33 seconds, while Dunn had a time of 52.38, good for 17th. Duncan Phillips advanced in the 1,500 meters with a time of 3:50.30 that qualified him 10th overall. Arkansas qualified three of its four entries in the 400 meters. Akheem Gauntlett finished in 46.17, Neil Braddy finished in 47.06, and Ben Skidmore ran 47.15. Leoman Momoh moved on in the 800 meters with a time of 1:49.79. He will be joined in the quarterfinal by Anthony Lieghio, who advanced with a time of 1:49.84.

Eight UA women advance

Eight runners on the Arkansas women’s team qualified Thursday for the quarterfinal rounds at the NCAA West Region preliminary in Austin, Texas. Brittany Hyter was fifth in her heat of the 400-meter hurdles in 1 minute, 0.18 seconds. Kristen Gillespie won her 1,500 heat in 4:24.91, and Keri Wood was fourth in the 1,500 in 4:30.24. Tiffany Hines was 16th in the 100 in 11.53. She also qualified for the 200. Regina George, Whitney Jones and Gwendolyn Flowers swept the top three spots in the 400. George was the top overall qualifier in 52.38. Jones was 10th in 53.76 while Flowers was 16th in 53.87. Martine Borge finished 23rd in the 800 in 2:08.58.

FOOTBALL

Swanson on Rimington Trophy

Arkansas center Travis Swanson has been selected to the Rimington Trophy watch list for the second consecutive summer. Swanson, 6-4, 305 pounds, has started all 26 games of his college career. The junior from Kingwood, Texas, joins 49 other players on the watch list for the Rimington, which is given to the nation’s top center. Swanson was recently selected by his teammates as one of three offensive captains for the 2012 season. He was a redshirt freshman on the Razorbacks’ offensive front in 2010 that produced the first 3,000-yard passer and 1,000-yard rusher on the same team in Arkansas history. — Tom Murphy

BASEBALL

UCA to host Southland Tournament in 2014

The Southland Conference announced Thursday at its spring meeting in Galveston, Texas, that Central Arkansas will host the league’s 2014 baseball tournament at Bear Stadium in Conway. It will be the first time that UCA will host the Southland Tournament. UCA also will host the league’s 2014 outdoor track and field meet. — Jeremy Muck