More NCAA News

• RRW:Villanova Men Still Motivated As Team At NCAA XC ChampionshipsPatrick Tiernan, Rob Denault and Jordy Williamsz say it will be different to be at NCAAs as individuals after the team unexpectedly didn’t make it.
  *MB:Villanova – 3 individual qualifiers but no team at NCAAs
• Register Guard:Waverly Neer Finds A Home With Oregon Cross-Country After Leaving Columbia And NYC Neer: “I had a lot of people tell me I was crazy, leaving one year away from getting an Ivy League degree. Academics are important to me … but they’re what you make of it. You can challenge yourself.”
• DailyLobo.com: New Mexico Women Are “Apex Predators In Hunt For National Title” The big favorites said they treated Regionals “kind of like a warm up”.
• Daily Bruin:Senior Lane Werley Shapes The Future Of UCLA Running
• Daily Emerald:Edward Cheserek’s Historic Career Grounded By His Love For His Teammates And Eugene
• The Stanford Daily:Stanford XC Teams Fought Through Season Of Injuries En Route To NCAAsChris Miltenberg: “This season is already a huge success. Nobody outside of our family would understand what we mean by that.”
• Hook’Em.com: Texas’ Men And Women’s XC Teams Going To Nationals Together For First Time Since 2012 After finishing a dismal 40th at Pre-Nats, the women Longhorns were a surprise 2nd at Regionals.

More On The Russian Doping Scandal

• Russian Anti-Doping Agency Ruled Non-Compliant And Suspended By WADA Five other countries were also ruled non-compliant, but not suspended and some other countries received warnings.
• Interesting Read:Former Head Of Interpol Drug Department, Günter Younger, Talks About Russia’s Blatant Indifference To Cheating “When I’m investigating criminals, usually they disguise their paths but we heard from athletes saying, ‘I don’t care as nothing will happen as usual.'”
• Dick Pound Says Fixing Doping Problems Should Be “Child’s Play” For Russia “With coaches, you say: ‘Folks, the old Soviet system is over, we’re not going to do that anymore and if that is your method of coaching don’t let the door hit you in the butt on the way out.'”
• Russian Task Force Formed To Wipe Out Doping “Infection” Quotes from task force head Gennady Alyoshin are in stark contrast to the combative statements from sports minister Vitaly Mutko.
• Edwin Moses Wants Russia Banned From Rio

NXN Is In Two Weeks

• Northville Team Barred From Going To NXN Nationals By Michigan High School Athletics Association Following Outdated Rules Parents and other supporters are putting a lot of pressure on MHSAA to change its mind. They are the first Michigan team to ever qualify.
  *DyeStat Article*Milesplit*Tweets From Dathan Ritzenhein And Hansons-Brooks
• NXN Regional Races Shake Up Rankings But Fayetteville-Manlius Girls Remains On Top
• Hopkins Boys Take Top Spot As NXN Field Fills Out

More Doping Updates

• Recommended Read:The Telegraph‘s Paul Hayward Explains Why Russia Has Essentially Been “Let Off The Hook By A Dirty Backroom Deal”“‘Compliance’ is a vital word here, because it suggests a willingness not to commit future transgressions. Those already on the charge sheet will be washed away by future obedience. Thus have the Kremlin, the IAAF and IOC conspired to turn the normal rules of crime and punishment on their head. … curious way to administer justice. It amounts to hugging the perpetrator, wiping the slab clean of a state doping programme and fooling the public that future ‘compliance’ eliminates current non-compliance.”
• Good News: Russian Marathoner Who Competed And Won A Marathon In Japan Will Be DQedViktor Ugarov will receive no prize money and the IAAF is writing to the Russian Federation seeking disciplinary proceedings against him.
  *Ugarov Could Get 4-Year Ban
• Doping Doesn’t Just Hurt The Sport, It Crushes The Dreams Of Clean Athletes Quotes from several athletes who were hurt by doping, including Sonia O’Sullivan, three-time Olympian Jonathan Brown and Canada’s Malindi Elmore.
• AP Exclusive:“A Soviet Sprinter Who Said No To Steroids” In 1967, teenage sprinter Misha Dzhindzhikhashvili wanted to take steroids, but his mother was “horrified” and wouldn’t let him. Russia needs more parents like her.
• IAAF Confirms It Has Been Investigating Allegations On Kenyan Doping Cover-Up And Corruption Since March
• Anti-Doping Expert Rune Andersen: There’s No Way To Put A Timeline On How Long Russian Investigation Might Take Andersen is the head of the IAAF inspection committee which will be in charge of reinstating Russia.
• Russian Officials Set Goal Of Being Unbanned By February 14th That is the day of their annual Russian Winter indoor meet.
• Athletics Illustrated:“Has The IAAF Completely Failed The Sport Of Athletics?”Chris Kelsall takes a long look at the last three IAAF presidents and the questionable ethics surrounding the whole organization.
• Russian Paralympic Silver Medalist Sprinter Alexander Zverev Banned For Failed Drug Test He tested positive for Cannabinoids, which is banned in competition.
• Institute Of National Anti-Doping Organisations (iNADO) Says Russia Should Be Banned From Rio 2016
• Olivier Niggli Will Replace David Howman As Next Director General Of WADA Howman is stepping down next June.

Kenyan Doping / Scandal Updates

• Dick Pound Says That It Is “Pretty Clear That There Is A Lot Of PEDs Being Used In Kenya” He said it should worry every athlete competing in distance events.
• AK Denies Doping Cover-Up; Claims Whistleblower Is A Rogue Coach A lot of crazy accusations on both sides. AK also issued an apology to Wilson Kipsang for publishing that he missed an out-of-competition test last year.
• Mystery Over Eight Unidentified Adverse Analytical Findings From September’s All-Africa Games The anti-doping program at the Games was a mess with workers even staging a strike. The positive tests include three track athletes.
• The Guardian:“Clouds Gather As Kenya Fears Sunshine Days Are Over For Its Athletics”
• Kip Keino Wants Lifetime Bans For All Kenyan Drug Cheats
• AK Vice President David Okeyo Denies Embezzlement Charges

Russia Reveals There Was A Possible Planned Terrorist Attack Before The 2014 Sochi Olympics Apparently, female suicide bombers had planned to smuggle explosives onto an aircraft in hand cream.

RIP:Longtime AP Track Writer Bert Rosenthal Dies At 79 Known for his work ethic, Rosenthal once dictated a story from his bed after he was hospitalized with heart problems during the Sydney Olympics.

A Kenyan Scandal May Be Next – But One Involving Money & Nike

LRC The Sunday Times Reports That Nike/Athletics Kenya Bribery/Theft Allegations Are Now Part Of A Criminal Probe Authorities are taking the ARD/Sunday Times Kenyan allegations seriously as a criminal probe has been launched. *Discuss

• IAAF Q&A About Doping/Bribery Scandals One of the questions is about the police investigation of Athletics Kenya.
• Kenyan Coach Alleges 3 Marathon Runners Paid Bribes For More Lenient Doping Bans
• Brother Colm O’Connell Says If Kenya Doesn’t Want People To Doubt Its Performances In 2016, It Must Make Immediate, Drastic Changes “If Kenya wants to really move into the Olympics with a clear conscience and with global credibility, then … better testing and monitoring of our athletes has to be put in place immediately.”

The Latest In The IAAF/Russian Doping Scandal

• The Acting Head Of Russia’s Athletics Federation Said On Sunday The Sport’s World Governing Body Was Punishing Russia To Divert Attention From Its Own Failings
• Telegraph: The 10 Biggest Doping Scandals In Sport – Is The Russian Drugs Expose #1? They rank Russia #1, Lance #2 and Ben Johnson #3.
• WADA Chief Sir Craig ­Reedie Says Russia Won’t Be Allowed In 2016 Olympics Unless It Shows It’s “As Clean As The Driven Snow”
• Russia Proposed On Sunday That The IOC Let Its Athletes Run Under Olympic Flag During Next 3 Months (And Possibly In Olympics) To Get Around Russia Olympic Ban
  
• Olympic Bronze Medalist Tatyana Arkhipova Was Forced To Withdraw From Sunday’s Saitama International Marathon – 1st Russian Athletes Banned After Russia’s Suspension
• Seb Coe Writes Column In Telegraph About Doping Scandal – Urges Engagement, Not Isolation
• Might Caster Semenya Be Upgraded To 2011 And 2012 Gold? The IOC and WADA are cracking down on doping but doing nothing about the domination of the 800 that soon will occur if people with hyperandrogenism are continued to be allowed to compete in women’s events without treatment.
• The Science Of Sport Gives Its Ideas About The Russian Doping Scandal
• Sean Ingle: Do Whistleblowers Need More Protection? Could the lives of whislteblowers like Steve Magness and Yuliya Stepanova be in jeopardy?
• Yuki Kawauchi Talks About Russian Doping Scandal – Says Whereabouts System Would Be Improved Drastically If All Athletes Were Forced To Wear GPS Devices
• Kiwi Columnist Paul Lewis: Let The Dopers Dope? You’ve Got To Be Kidding
• Andy Murray Calls For More Drug Testing In Tennis, Even Suggests Cuts In Prize Money To Pay For It

The Latest Russian Doping Scandal Updates

• The IAAF Is Next: A Lot More To Come In Second WADA Independent Commission Report On Corruption Within The IAAF Commission member Richard McLaren said that there could even be calls to suspend the IAAF once the report is released.
• Would Really Defeat The Purpose:Could Russian Athletes Compete Under The Olympic Flag If Russia Is Still Banned Come Rio? Apparently Yelena Isinbayeva‘s coach is looking into that option.
• Daily Mail:Is There Already A Deal In Place To Ensure Russia’s Return Before Rio? An IAAF insider said if Russia make it to the Olympics “… then it will be because of a huge and genuine turnaround, or forces much bigger than the IAAF.”
• IOC President Thomas Bach Confident Russia Will Reform In Time For Rio We’re sure many athletes and fans hopes they are not.
• Russian Athletics Federation President Vadim Zelichenok Says IAAF’s Suspension Is “Too Severe”
• Russian Suspension Means They Will Be Kept Out Of SPAR European XC Championships In December Russia hasn’t sent a senior team since 2010 anyway.
• Sports Minister Vitaly Mutko Says Russia Will Be Compliant In Three Months
• Daily Mail:“Lord Coe Must Have Guts To Tackle British Athletics’ Smug Attitude To Doping” Writer accuses Brits of condemning Russians, but sweeping things like Christine Ohuruogu‘s ban for three missed drug tests under the rug.
• Yelena Isinbayeva Wrote An Open Letter Asking IAAF Council Not To Impose A Blanket Ban On Russia Thankfully they didn’t listen to her.
• GB Captain Martyn Rooney Believes Seb Coe Has Been “Naive” “I want to believe he is the right person for the job. … it is just whether it is the best thing for athletics to have someone who was involved in the IAAF at that period still involved at the turnaround.”

Russia Is Banned *All Russian Doping Scandal News

Breaking: IAAF Provisionally Suspends Russian Athletics Federation; Russian Athletes Banned From All International Competitions 22 of the 24 voting members were in favor of the ban; only one was against. Russia will not be able to host the 2016 World Race Walking Cup or World Junior Championships. To regain membership to the IAAF, the new Russian federation will have to fulfill a list of criteria and pass inspections.
*MB:BREAKING: IAAF Suspends Russian Athletics Federation