By Jim Halley, USA TODAY
Special to MaxPreps.com
This past week, Illinois became the fourth state to make plans for steroid testing for high school athletes, beginning with the 2008-09 school year.
New Jersey is in its second year of steroid testing, and Florida is in its first year of a program. Texas plans to start this spring.
"I know a lot of states are looking at it," said Bob Colgate, assistant director of the National Federation of State High School Associations and liaison to its sports medicine advisory committee. "They are watching with keen interest what happens with New Jersey's program."
The tests in New Jersey are random and are only for teams or athletes competing in state championships. They cost the state $175 a test. One change New Jersey made this fall was to test athletes before state championships rather than to pull athletes away from celebrating or commiserating with their teams after a title game.
"We feel pleased that we have done some positive things. . We're going to learn as we go along," said Bob Baly, an assistant director with the New Jersey State Interscholastic Athletic Association. "I've heard from doctors who have had a reduction in student-athletes coming into their offices with steroids-related health problems. For the athletes, it's heightened their alertness to not wanting to get caught."
Big Weekend
Several high-profile basketball tournament matchups are set for the Martin Luther King Holiday weekend.
In Springfield, Mass., the HoopHall Classic includes eight USA TODAY Super 25 boys teams: No. 1 St. Anthony (Jersey City), No. 3 St. Benedict's Prep (Newark), No. 6 Archbishop Mitty (San Jose, Calif.), No. 8 Chester, Pa., No. 15 Lincoln (Brooklyn, N.Y.), No. 12 St. Raymond (Bronx, N.Y.), No. 20 Holy Cross (Flushing, N.Y.) and No. 21 Taft (Woodland Hills, Calif.).
Saturday in the HoopHall Classic, Chester will play Montverde (Fla.) Academy, which was previously in the Super 25. Monday's matchups include Holy Cross vs. Archbishop Mitty and St. Raymond vs. Taft. Both games will be televised on ESPNU, along with a game between Scott County (Georgetown, Ky.) and St. Anthony. Saturday in the McDonald's Classic in Erie, Pa., No. 5 St. Patrick (Elizabeth, N.J.) could face No. 11 Rice (Brooklyn, N.Y.) in the final.
There are several big matchups in girls tournaments this weekend, starting with the McDonald's Girls Shootout in Villa Park, Ill. Washington (South Bend, Ind.), No. 22 in the USA TODAY girls basketball rankings, will face No. 14 Buffalo Grove, Ill., on Saturday. Also Saturday, in the Super Showcase in Middleburg, Va., home team No. 6 Notre Dame Academy will face No. 18 Eleanor Roosevelt (Greenbelt, Md.).
Born Web-ready
If you miss seeing Lincoln in the HoopHall Classic, you can always catch up on the life of the team's star player, guard Lance Stephenson.
Stephenson's life is being captured by a Web serial, which is already in its fifth episode, all of which can be seen at bornreadytv.com. The most recent showed how the family dealt with an opossum that took up refuge in a trash can in its backyard.
NFHS Ruling
Juashaunna Kelly, a Muslim athlete from Theodore Roosevelt High in Washington, D.C., was not allowed to run in the Montgomery Invitational indoor track and field meet Saturday in Maryland because she was wearing a one-piece blue and orange uniform that covers her head, arms, torso and legs.
Officials at the National Federation of State High Schools (NFHS) said their rules would have allowed Kelly to wear the unitard as long as it was one color.
