Carleton University football player suspended 2 years for doping

Canada's leading anti-doping agency has issued a two-year sports suspension to a Carleton University football player who tested positive for a banned substance following last year's Panda Game.

Ravens defensive back Daniel McNicoll provided a urine sample to the Canadian Centre for Ethics in Sport (CCES) on Oct.1, 2016, the day Carleton took on the University of Ottawa in the annual cross-town classic. Test results revealed the presence of D- and L-amphetamine.

Amphetamine is a stimulant often used to treat attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and narcolepsy but can also lead to adverse effects, such as weight loss and insomnia. The substance is banned by the World Anti-Doping Agency.

'Surprised and disappointed'

We do quite extensive education with our student athletes so we were quite upset that this happened.- Jennifer Brenning, Dir. of Athletics, Carleton U.

"I was very surprised and disappointed," said Jennifer Brenning, the Director of Recreation and Athletics at Carleton University, who said McNicoll admitted to taking the brand-name drug Adderal without a prescription.

"We do quite extensive education with our student athletes so we were quite upset that this happened."

This is the first time McNicoll has tested positive for a performance-enhancing drug according to the Canadian Centre for Ethics in Sport. 

He was issued an automatic two-year suspension from any sport that has signed onto the Canadian Anti-Doping Program. McNicoll's suspension will end Nov. 9, 2018. He waived his right to a hearing after learning the test results. 

"We met with Daniel several times. He's a very good student athlete. He admitted and was very remorseful and certainly took complete ownership of his actions, accepted the sanctions immediately," said Brenning.

Took drug to help studies

The CCES investigation also determined McNicoll did not actually use the drug to boost his performance on the field but rather in the classroom. 

"He had taken the substance not from a sport performance perspective," said Brenning. "He was in the middle of midterms and he took the substance for that purpose, to study."

According to the Ravens' website, McNicoll is a fourth-year civil engineering student at Carleton, who is from Hamilton. He joined the Carleton squad in 2013 when the football program was resurrected after being cancelled in 1998.

Brenning said even before the suspension, McNicoll was unsure whether he was going to rejoin the Ravens next fall because of his workload at school. She said in her 11 years at Carleton, this is the first time an athlete has been suspended for a doping infraction.