Seth Clevenger is an active rostered student-athlete at Rowan University. The controversial Division-III track and field star was not kicked off of the team as false rumors have suggested.
His status with the program (and the school) has not changed.
It is expected that Clevenger will compete for the Profs in track and field during the 2026/27 academic calendar year. He has not been suspended or removed from the roster.
Who is Seth Clevenger?
A native of New Jersey, Clevenger was one of the top track and field recruits in the country out of Haddonfield Memorial High School. He received New Balance All-American honors as a senior.
The highly-touted middle-distance runner ultimately committed to Iowa State and set multiple PRs as a freshman in 2022-23. Although Seth Clevenger placed fifth, fourth and second at three different Indoor meets as a sophomore, he did not run Cross Country and took a redshirt during the Outdoor season.
And then it got messy.
The Cyclones were ranked No. 1 in the country when the university announced that multiple runners were suspended “for breaking team rules.” Rumors of a drug scandal immediately started to swirl within the track and field community.
Iowa State did not announce which athletes were suspended. Nor did it announce what rules were violated. However, we were able to connect the dots based on who was allowed to compete at the next meet and who was not.
Clevenger was suspended. He later transferred to Rowan University, a Division-III school, during the offseason.
Around that same time, his former teammates started to speak up about his alleged use of banned substances. They accused him of using an illegal peptide to promote healing in muscles. They also claimed to find multiple packages with the label ‘EPO’ in his fridge. The use of EPO is strictly forbidden in competition.
But here’s the thing. Clevenger never failed a drug test and the NCAA is not attached to the World Anti-Doping Code so the USADA was not allowed to rule him as guilty or issue a punishment for the use of an illegal substance.
The NCAA also does not require a team-issued suspension to follow an athlete across multiple programs. Clevenger was suspended by Iowa State. he was not suspended by the NCAA. That means he is free to compete at Rowan without restrictions.
Was he removed from the track and field program at Rowan University?
Although Seth Clevenger continues to deny the use of performance-enhancing drugs, the stigma surrounding his suspension at Iowa State will follow him throughout the rest of his track and field career. As will the allegations from his former teammates.
That did not stop him from competing (and winning) at Rowan.
Clevenger won the won the 5,000-meter event at the Division-III Indoor Track and Field Championships in March. The second-, third-, fourth-, fifth- and sixth-place finishers decided to walk off of the podium during the trophy ceremony in protest of Clevenger’s victory and his past. The same thing happened after the 3,000 when he won his second D-III national title in two days.
A similar demonstration was likely to take place at the Division-III Outdoor Track and Field Championships in May. Clevenger was the heavy favorite to win the 3,000 and the 5,000 until he suddenly withdrew from competition.
Fast forward to earlier this week. Rumors started to swirl on the LetsRun.com message board about the controversial Division-III track star’s future with the program at Rowan. An anonymous poster claimed that Clevenger had been kicked off of the team.
I had multiple people reach out to me directly regarding the rumors, asking whether they are true. I was able to get an answer.
The claim that Clevenger was removed from the roster is not accurate. I reached out to Rowan University for clarification and received the following statement from the Associate Director of Athletics – Communications:
“Seth Clevenger is an active rostered student-athlete at Rowan.”
That settles that! As of this writing, Seth Clevenger remains enrolled at Rowan University. He remains a member of the track and field program. He is still expected to compete for the Profs in the fall.
Any rumors of his ouster were misinformed. They are inaccurate.