The United States Anti-Doping Agency announced a four-month sanction against Allie Ostrander on Friday for testing positive for a prohibited substance. The sanction period started April 28 and ended Monday.
Ostrander, a 2015 Kenai Central graduate now living in Seattle, tested positive for canrenone, a metabolite of spironolactone, according to USADA.
The agency said the violation resulted from use of an acne medication containing spironolactone.
According to USADA, Ostrander had prescription for the medication, but the problem came when she failed to obtain a Therapeutic Use Exemption for the medication.
Spironolactone and canrenone are banned because they are diuretics and masking agents that can be used to hide the use of performance-enhancing substances.
Ostrander, the three-time NCAA Division I steeplechase champion, released a video on her YouTube channel Sunday that emphasized she did not take a performance-enhancing substance.
“When I initially got on it, I wanted to make sure it wouldn’t impact my performance,” she said. “So I Googled it, and it said, ‘It doesn’t help, it doesn’t take away.’
“So I thought, ‘Cool. Good.’”
Ostrander said she went on spironolactone in October 2022. USADA said the test that resulted in the positive happened March 30.
In April, Ostrander received an email notifying her of the positive test.
“When I initially started taking this medication, I should have searched it on global DRO and seen that it was banned,” Ostrander said. “But I didn’t do that. And for that I take full responsibility.”
Global DRO is a resource available on usada.org. A search for spironolactone on global DRO shows the medication is banned both in and out of competition.
Ostrander said she believes in clean sport and would not take a substance to gain an advantage over competitors.
“My confidence in myself that I wasn’t trying to cheat is not enough,” she said. “I need to be more meticulous in my research.”
Ostrander said her use of spironolactone stemmed from 2021, when she began recovering from an eating disorder.
She said her hormones re-regulated, she got her period back and then started getting some breakouts.
“In my head, I really wanted to control my skin by cutting things out of my diet or eating clean, being careful about everything I was consuming,” Ostrander said. “But I realized that could easily lead me to relapse.”
Ostrander said she went online to get a prescription from a dermatologist.
“With all of this information considered, USADA decided that my degree of fault was light, and that I would receive a four-month sanction which ends August 28,” Ostrander said.
In addition to the sanction, USADA said Ostrander is disqualified from any results obtained on or after March 30, 2023, including forfeiting any medals, points and prizes.
On April 2, Ostrander finished second at the Carlsbad 5,000 in Southern California, winning $2,000. The race website says all athletes in the Elite Invitational at the race are subject to USADA drug testing.
Shortly after Carlsbad, according to videos on her channel, Ostrander had to stop running due to shin pain. She has started running again, but has not competed in races.
