SDSU Drug Testing Postponed : UCLA Lab Chief Says He Is Unaware of Involvement

A procedural foul-up has forced the drug testing of San Diego State’s track and field athletes, originally scheduled for today, to be postponed until Friday or later, said Fred Miller, SDSU athletic director, Wednesday night.

The urinalysis, which was to be administered by the American Clinical laboratory in San Diego today, was supposed to be sent to the UCLA Medical Center for analysis of anabolic steroids and recreational drugs. Results were due within a week.

But Dr. Donald Catlin, director of pharmacology who ran the drug tests for the 1984 Summer Olympics, said Wednesday that the UCLA laboratory had not agreed to test the specimen.

When a reporter informed Miller of Catlin’s position, the athletic director was surprised and said he needed to talk to Catlin.

About five hours later, Miller said: “We’re going to move the test back a day in order to take all of the time necessary to make sure that all of the protocol is established. It’s much more important to get back into a testing mode rather than to begin pointing fingers as to who’s at fault. We thought quite frankly that things were going along smoothly, but obviously there was a communication gap.”

Miller had announced Monday that mandatory drug testing by the SDSU men’s and women’s track and field team would take place this week. The announcement came in the wake of a controversy that surfaced last week when some present and former members of the track team said they received steroids from an assistant coach, Tom Pagel, who has since been reassigned within the athletic department. Pagel’s reassignment, Miller said, has nothing to with the allegations by the athletes.

Catlin, whose laboratory is the only North American facility accredited by the International Olympic Committee, was surprised Wednesday afternoon when a reporter asked him in a telephone interview what the tests would be like.

“What tests?” Catlin said. “I don’t even know what’s going on. I in no way have agreed to do this test for them. I don’t just do these tests for any willy-nilly organization that comes in. We can’t accept samples from any old place at any old time.

“Before I would even consider conducting these tests, I would want to know exactly what’s going on. I would have to know what the sanctions are against the athletes who test positive, and I must be sure the chain of security is not broken. This is a very complicated business.”

Miller said that he spoke with Catlin several times Wednesday evening in order to try to work out the snafu.

“We still have a lot of kinks to work out and we will begin working on those things first thing (this) morning,” Miller said. “UCLA is the state of the art (in steroid testing) and we want to use their facility.”

Because of Miller’s announcement Monday that the entire men’s and women’s track teams have been suspended until the athletes are tested for possible steroid and recreational drug use, SDSU track teams will miss meets Saturday at Choc Sportsman track involving five other schools. Miller had said he hoped the team would be able to compete next weekend.

“That’s still our collective goal,” Miller said. “We definitely want to get the test started Friday, but I can’t say that we’ll definitely be able to do so. We still have some things to work out.”

In his office on campus, Miller met late Wednesday afternoon with Marilyn Hatcher, associate athletic director, for more than two hours. As of 6:30 p.m., he said he still didn’t have a handle on the situation.

“We’re still having some procedural problems with the test at this time,” Miller said. “That’s all I can say right know.”

After spending Wednesday evening speaking at length with Catlin, Miller announced the postponement just before 10 p.m.

“I’ve been trying to find out what went wrong,” Miller said. “But, like I said, I’m more concerned with getting this testing procedure right rather than to worry about the procedural problems.”

Catlin said the UCLA Medical School is under contract with the United States Olympic Committee to administer tests for USOC athletes, but does not have any other specific obligations to meet. But because of the lab’s sophistication, Catlin and his staff are continually researching new ways to test for a variety of drugs, not only steroids.

Catlin, when asked Wednesday afternoon whether he might accept SDSU’s request to tests its athletes: “It’s not something I’d make a snap decision on.”

Jim Cerveny, the SDSU women’s track coach, said he learned of Miller’s decision Wednesday night, and he said he doesn’t think the problem will deter the athletes’ return to the track next weekend.

“From what I understand, the people from UCLA will be coming down to administer the test so that should keep everything in the same time frame as before,” Cerveny said. “I’m happy we’ll have people who know exactly what they’re doing running the testing procedure. We’ll just have to get ready for Friday now.”

Laura DeSnoo, a 1984 Olympian and discus thrower at SDSU, was surprised by Miller’s announcement.

“I know of some people who, because this weekend’s meet had been canceled, were planning on going home for Easter,” DeSnoo said. “We had a lot of people who flew into San Diego just for the testing tomorrow. I just hope this doesn’t push us back to where we miss our Sun Angel (in Tempe, Ariz.) meet next weekend.”