WE'VE ALL HEARD about the doping allegations against baseball Hall of Famer Barry Bonds and the conviction and imprisonment of Olympic sprinter Marion Jones, who lied about using steroids. But are athletes at a less competitive level — such as high school — also abusing performance-enhancing drugs?

Prevalence among high school athletes

The answer is yes. The short-term advantages of performance enhancers and their wide availability make them very tempting to high school athletes.

Anyone with a credit card can purchase them online, and those who frequent gyms can easily get a hook-up if they want the drugs.

The latest statistics, according to the University of Michigan's Monitoring the Future Survey, showed that in 2007 some 1.5 percent of eighth graders, 1.8 percent of 10th graders, and 2.2 percent of 12th graders had used steroids at some point in their lifetime.

Although 2.2 percent doesn't seem like a widespread problem, 2.2 percent out of all the 12th graders in the nation [approximately 4.25 million based on a 2006 Census Bureau report of the total number of students enrolled in grades 9-12] adds up to 93,500 seniors who have used steroids.

The IHSA’s new policy

Considering how accessible steroids are and how few states test for the performance enhancers, it’s surprising that not more high school athletes are taking them. New Jersey, the first state to conduct drug tests of athletes, only began testing in the 2006-07 school year.

One reason that high school administrators throughout the nation haven't cracked down on steroid-abuse problems is because they have bigger things to worry about, like recreational drugs. The Monitoring the Future Survey also revealed that 46.2 percent of 12th graders had smoked cigarettes, 72.2 percent had consumed alcohol, 7.8 percent had done cocaine, and 41.8 percent had smoked marijuana.

As 2008 began, only Florida and Texas had joined New Jersey as states that administered drug tests to high school athletes.

But that soon changed. On Jan. 14, 2008, Illinois joined the ranks. The organization that governs high school sports in the state — the Illinois High School Association — announced that it would test random athletes for steroids and other performance-enhancing drugs during postseason competitions, starting with the 2008-09 school year.

The decision was preceded by a survey administered by the IHSA. Out of the 414 schools that responded, 294 (72 percent) were in favor of implementing a performance-enhancing drug testing program. Unanimously approved by the IHSA Board of Directors, this policy makes Illinois the fourth state in the country to approve the administering of drug tests to high school athletes.

Behind the testing

The IHSA program tests for banned substances in four classes of drugs: stimulants, anabolic agents/anabolic steroids, diuretics, and peptide hormones and analogues.

The drug tests were proposed as a step toward “protecting the integrity of the interscholastic experience for high school students in Illinois,” said IHSA Executive Director Marty Hickman.

In an e-mail interview with the Online Gargoyle, Hickman stated: “[The IHSA] believe that students competing in interscholastic contests should have some assurances that they are competing on a level playing field. The testing program will give students an incentive or reason to say ‘no.’”

According to IHSA Assistant Executive Director Kurt Gibson, the IHSA will spend about $150,000 to implement the testing program since each test costs approximately $175. The IHSA plans to pay for the tests with profit earned from general revenues, such as admission tickets.

Students who test positive for performance-enhancing drugs, refuse to provide a sample for testing, or attempt to alter the sample are ineligible for competition for 365 days from the date test results are reported. However, there is an appeal process.

“The student may apply for reinstatement of his/her athletic eligibility no sooner than 90 calendar days of the suspension following successful completion of an approved educational program and testing negative in a subsequent drug test administered by the association’s third-party test administrator,” according to the IHSA Web site.

“Each positive test will be taken on a case-by-case basis,” said Matt Troha, an IHSA assistant executive director.

What about consequences for a team when an athlete shows signs of banned substances?

“If a single player or several players tested positive and were deemed by the executive director to have had a significant impact on their team’s success during the season, then wins and trophies could be vacated,” said Troha.

A good move or a waste of money?

Reactions to the new policy among Uni athletes have been largely positive.

“Obviously no one should be allowed to get an unfair advantage,” said junior basketball and soccer player extraordinaire Dan Lilly. “It also shows that steroid use is increasing in high schoolers and this is a particularly bad time in a person's life to take them, especially if natural growth is still occurring.”

But some athletes doubt the effectiveness of the policy and question the legitimacy of banning substances that can be found in legal supplements such as creatine, glutamine, and taurine.

“I strongly disagree with the decision to test for them,” said sophomore cross country sensation Albert Anastasio. “These are all legal and are essentially like drinking coffee before a workout and eating a lot of meat to build muscle from the protein.”

In addition, considering the cost of each test, only a small percentage of athletes will be tested.

“I understand that they hope to catch a few users and that will be enough to scare the rest away, but if a high school student is willing to take the physical risk of steroids, then they will most likely be willing to take the very small risk, in comparison, of being caught,” said Lilly.

Steroid use at Uni?

In the eyes of many local high school students, Uni is often seen as the “nerd school.” Due to the highly selective admission process, we are sometimes perceived as a bunch of uncoordinated, geeky overachievers.

We by far have the highest number of National Merit Semifinalists each year compared to all the local schools, but how do we compare with other schools when it comes to sports?

Decades ago, Uni’s sports programs were, well, an embarrassment. Our boys basketball team from 1974 to 1979 still holds the highest losing streak in IHSA basketball history.

However, recently Uni athletics have experienced an impressive degree of success. The girls cross country team made it to the IHSA state meet three times in the past four years. The boys cross country team finished fourth at the state meet this year. Our basketball and soccer teams have had several winning seasons in the past few years, and individuals from the girls swim team made appearances at state this year.

So what contributed to this sudden turn in athletic performance? Are we losing our academic edge and gaining recognition in the athletic field? Are we overachievers who excel in all our endeavors? Or are we pumping steroids and other enhancers to make our extracurricular activities appear more attractive to colleges?

“I don't think steroid use is a problem at all at Uni,” said Mike Renner, the 2008 graduate who holds the school record for career points in boys basketball.

“Sports offered at Uni are, in general, not power sports. The only sport I can really see it being used for is swimming and sprinting or most field events in track. Other performance enhancers like HGH, however, would seem to appeal to all sports, but most Uni students don't have Division I aspirations and are not looking for that edge on the competition.”

Anastasio agreed: “If I were on a competitive football team and all my friends were telling me to take [steroids], I would hope that I would turn them down, but I know that I would be tempted. Luckily, I don’t have to go through that situation [at Uni].”

“I would be very surprised if anyone at Uni was on steroids,” added Lilly. “There are very few athletes here who plan on an athletic career after high school, which is probably where a lot of high school steroid use comes from. Also Uni doesn't offer football or baseball where the use of steroids can have a great impact on your performance. Steroids don't really help soccer, basketball, or cross country.”

The college experience

Boys varsity basketball coach Joel Beesley, who played Division I basketball at Valparaiso University, said that the only “enhancing” items he knew his teammates used were weight-gaining shake drinks.

“I started using those in high school, and they tasted like sand and were horrible. By my senior year of college, they were better and we drank those and Ensure so that we could try not to lose weight during the season.”

During his senior year at Valparaiso, Beesley remembers working with a Mr. USA from the '80s at the local Gold’s Gym.

“There we saw guys who were totally on 'roids and it was obvious. They talked a lot about diet and vitamins. I never got into that, but there was a lot of plain cooked chicken being eaten there to eliminate fat, and other health food.”

Beesley believes that performance enhancers are more popular nowadays, but he has not seen any evidence of abuse at Uni. He attributes that to the do-your-best attitude that Uni students and coaches have toward sports.

“We have an acceptance of our athletic program that we do our very best, but it is not life and death. Our students are not needing a scholarship for athletics as an avenue to college.”

Athletic Director Sally Walker agreed.

“I hope I am not being naive in saying this, but I really don't think [performance-enhancing drug use] is an issue at all at Uni,” she said.

IHSA testing results

The 2008-09 school year is almost two-thirds complete, with winter sports nearing the postseason. So how did the first round of IHSA drug testing go?

In the fall, the IHSA tested 264 athletes in postseason competition: 108 for anabolic steroids and 156 for stimulants. Only six athletes tested positive for banned drug use, and none of them were penalized since they were all taking prescription medication during their competition period.

So the initial results were highly encouraging. It shows that high school athletics in Illinois are generally clean.

In the end, most agree that the IHSA is making a right move in testing athletes for steroids and other performance enhancers. It raises awareness and serves as a warning. In the end, it will more or less level out the playing field and — as the IHSA's Hickman said — give athletes a reason to say "no."