Apostle Guilty of EPO Doping

The apostle who reached the tomb before Peter is under investigation after receiving a positive A sample from the USADA yesterday. Pending a confirmed B sample, the apostle could face a ban from all USATF sanctioned races of at least 2 years.

“There is a lot of pressure to differentiate yourself from the other 11 apostles,” he told the New York Times. “I put my trust in the wrong person. Judas.”

Various publishers have already stated that if a B sample is confirmed they will redact all 2.5+ billion sold copies of the Bible and place an asterisk at the end of the line that credits this apostle with reaching Jesus’ tomb first.

“The USADA was very saddened to hear results of the test,” stated USADA CEO Travis Tygart. “This young man was a role model for many younger runners/apostles. To disgrace him with this penalty is terrible for our sport but in the end we are helping to preserve the integrity of our sport for years to come.”

Davidson College to the Atlantic 10 Effective July, 2014

Dust is beginning to settle after the financially driven storm of college conference realignment hit the NCAA in 2010. The Atlantic 10 has said bye to some (Charlotte, Temple, Xavier) and hello to others (Butler, VCU, George Mason) and then bye again to another (no Indian give-backs this time, Butler.) Please give a warm A10 “Who Got Next” welcome to the final addition from this round (and for the sake of rivalries and loyalty, the last round?) of conference realignments: Davidson College.

Davidson is a private college located in Davidson, North Carolina. It’s undergraduate enrollment of 1,850 will make it the smallest school in the Atlantic 10 with almost 600 less students than the A10’s current smallest, Saint Bonaventure’s (2,400).

The Davidson Wildcats, current members of the Southern Conference, will field both a Men’s and Women’s Cross Country and Track and Field team when they join the Atlantic in the beginning of the 2014-2015 season, effective in July, 2014.

The Davidson Men recently finished 6th out of 9 at the SoCon Indoor Track and Field Championships, scoring points in the 800m, Mile, 3000m, 5000m, 60m Hurdles, 4x400m, and Distance Medley Relay. They sent athletes in all events except for the Weight Throw and Shot Put.

The Davidson Women recently finished 9th out of 11 at the same SoCon Indoor Track and Field Championships, scoring points in the 800m, Mile, 5000m, 4x400m, and Distance Medley Relay. They did not send any athletes in sprint events below the 400m, jump events, throw events, or pentathletes.

The Davidson Men finished 5th of 10 at the SoCon Cross Country Championships and will return 6 of their 7 scorers from that meet.

The Davidson Women finished 6th out of 10 at the SoCon Cross Country Championships and will also return 6 of their 7 scorers from that meet.

The Davidson Wildcats train at Irwin Belk Track, a 400m, 8-lane track that includes areas for high jump, long and triple jumps, pole vault, shot put, discus, javelin and steeplechase. They potentially fill the spot for a warm, southern outdoor championship host that Charlotte left when they jumped ship to Conference USA.

Davidson’s well-known basketball program stands to make a big impact on the Atlantic 10, both financially and competitively. They have competed below-average in a Track and Field conference that stacks up (from sprints, to distance, to field events) very similarly to the Atlantic 10. They will not shake up the XC and T&F conference in the way that the induction and exodus of Butler did. Their final addition adds something much more meaningful: the sign of a settled conference where rivalries will grow and realignment will be a thing of the past.

Davivd Rudisha… Retiring?

Kenyan middle distance star David Rudisha has announced his retirement from running yesterday, according to sports blog Standard Digital. Fans and sports writers took to social media quickly, speculating as to why the reigning Olympic champion at 800m was retiring at the young age of 25; Injury? Impending drug test evasion? Or perhaps… April Fools?Rudisha confirmed today that he was indeed playing an April Fool’s joke and that recovery from his knee injury is going well. He intends to debut his outdoor season next month in the Bahamas.

Points for bringing (slight, slight, slightttt) media attention to a media-starved sport, David.

David Rudisha is the current World Record and Olympic Record holder in 800m, which he set during the London 2012 Olympics in a time of 1:40.91. He owns gold medals at that distance in the Olympics, World Championships, African Championships, and World Junior Championships.