Seth Clevenger won yet another Division-III national championship in track and field on Saturday, less than six months after he was suspended by the team at Iowa State for an alleged doping scandal. The other four athletes who finished on the podium abruptly left the medal ceremony in protest, again.
This is the second time in two days this has happened.
There may not be a more important story in college sports right now. Unfortunately, it is not getting enough attention because it is happening on the D3 level of track and field.
Who is Seth Clevenger?
Clevenger, a current junior in college, was a three-time New Jersey state champion at Haddonfield Memorial High School. He was one of the top recruits in the country as a New Balance All-American.
Iowa State ultimately received his commitment.
Seth Clevenger ran for the Cyclones in Outdoor, Indoor and Cross Country competition during 2022-23 season and set multiple PRs as a freshman. He recorded fifth-, fourth- and second-place finishes at three different Indoor meets as a sophomore but he did not run Cross Country and took a redshirt during the Outdoor season.
That leads us to 2024-25. This is where things get messy.
Clevenger competed at only one meet during Cross Country season in the fall before top-ranked Iowa State suddenly suspended multiple runners “for breaking team rules” amid rumors of a drug scandal.
The school did not announce which athletes were suspended or why, but we were able to fill in the gaps based on who was allowed to compete at the next meet. It became abundantly clear that Clevenger was the most prominent athlete who was involved with the scandal.
That led him to transfer to Rowan University during the offseason.
Why is he allowed to compete at Rowan University?
Two of Clevenger’s former teammates at Iowa State told LetsRun.com that he admitted to the use of an illegal peptide during the 2025 Cross Country season to promote healing in muscles. His admission supposedly led him to be suspended by the coaching staff after he ran the best race of his life.
Another former teammate also claims he saw multiple packages labeled ‘EPO’ in Seth Clevenger’s fridge. EPO is a banned substance in track and field.
According to the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency, the “administration of pharmaceutical agents like erythropoietin (EPO) causes the body to increase red blood cell production, resulting in an increased amount of hemoglobin.” This practice is more commonly known as blood doping.
There is a lot of evidence that could be used against Clevenger to prove his guilt but he denies the use of EPO and he did not fail a drug test so he was not ruled ineligible.
The USADA, which opened an investigation into the use of illegal substances at Iowa State, doesn’t have jurisdiction over the case because the NCAA is not attached to the World Anti-Doping Code. It could not issue a punishment for the use of an illegal substance. It could not even rule Clevenger as guilty.
All of the authority fell back on the NCAA, which does not have a set penalty for athletes who admit to the use of a banned substance. Any athlete who tests positive for a banned substance must serve a one-year suspension but Clevenger never tested positive so he was not suspended by the NCAA.
The NCAA also does not require a team-issued suspension to follow an athlete throughout his entire track and field career across multiple programs. That allowed Clevenger to transfer to Rowan and immediately be declared as eligible to compete.
The Division-III Track and Field Championships ended in a podium protest, again.
Seth Clevenger continues to deny the use of performance-enhancing drugs. He also claims he transferred to Rowan because he was looking for a fresh start, not directly because of the scandal.
“Some people said some things about me. [They] weren’t true. So, I just didn’t feel respected at my previous institution. Decided to come to [Rowan] where people actually respect me.”
Clevenger kept running despite the allegations and kept winning.
The controversial junior led wire-to-wire to win the men’s 5000-meter title at the Division-III Indoor Championships on Friday. The second-, third-, fourth- and fifth-place finishers abruptly left the podium in protest of his victory during the medal and trophy presentation.
It happened again on Saturday.
Clevenger led wire-to-wire to win the men’s 3000-meter title in dominant fashion at the Division-III Indoor Championships. He won by more than 10 seconds.
- Seth Clevenger, Rowan — 7:54.92
- Ryan Hagan, SUNY Geneseo — 8:06.04
- Owen Clark, Wisconsin–La Crosse — 8:06.97
- Chasen Hunt, Lynchburg — 8:09.12
- Isaac vanWestrienen, Cornell College — 8:09.38
The second-, third-, fourth- and fifth-place finishers once again bailed on the podium ceremony.
— Wottleheadz (@wottleheadz) March 15, 2026
Unfortunately, even if Seth Clevenger is clean like he says he is, there will always be a mental asterisk next to his Division-III victories and records because of the alleged doping scandal. There is nothing the World Anti-Doping Agency can do. The NCAA is just as impotent because he never failed a drug test.