College athletics

AP finds drug policies

in SEC are rather loose

Players testing positive for marijuana in the high-profile Southeastern Conference do not face the one-year suspension that comes from getting busted by the NCAA.

At SEC schools, players routinely get third, fourth and even fifth chances before they are booted from a team; failed drug tests administered by the NCAA result in the automatic suspension.

The finding comes from an examination by The Associated Press of the drug policies at 11 members of the SEC. Vanderbilt, a private institution, declined to make its rules available.

All SEC schools the AP studied had far more lenient drug policies than the NCAA, though the penalties varied widely.

Athletes at Georgia and Auburn who test positive for marijuana a second time face the prospect of losing half their season to suspension. Arkansas and Florida, by comparison, suspend athletes for 10 percent of a season for a second positive.

Six of the SEC schools studied have a three-strikes-and-you're-out method. At Florida, you might get a fifth strike. At Arkansas, a fourth.

Just how many suspensions for recreational drug use are handed down in the SEC or any NCAA-affiliated conference is unknown because privacy rules prohibit schools from disclosing positive tests. They are not even required to tell the NCAA.

SEC commissioner Mike Slive said a conference-wide standard has been discussed at least twice during his 10-year tenure but league members have opted against one to this point.

NFL

Vilma's attorney says

ledger isn't proof

The attorney for suspended New Orleans linebacker Jonathan Vilma contends a ledger of under-the-table cash bonuses and fines for Saints players shows no proof of bounties placed on targeted opponents.

Lawyer Peter Ginsberg said the leaking of the ledger to media shows how "misguided and irresponsible" commissioner Roger Goodell has been in handling the bounty investigation of the Saints.

Vilma has been suspended for the 2012 season in connection with the bounty probe and is appealing the penalty.

Soccer

Revolution prevails

Kelyn Rowe, who is from Federal Way, scored in the 69th minute and assisted on Benny Feilhaber's goal four minutes later as the host New England Revolution beat the Chicago Fire 2-0 in Major League Soccer.

Elsewhere

• Two Pac-12 teams have a chance to reach the Women's College World Series softball best-of-three final, but each must win twice Sunday in Oklahoma City.

Arizona State faces Oklahoma of the Big 12 and California plays Alabama of the SEC.

• Pac-12 baseball teams Oregon, Stanford and UCLA are each 2-0 in four-team, double-elimination regionals on their home fields in the 64-team NCAA tournament. Arizona could join that group, depending on the outcome of its late-Saturday game against visiting Louisville.

Meanwhile, Oregon State lost 7-1 at Louisiana State.

Oregon beat Cal State Fullerton 7-5, Stanford edged Pepperdine 5-4 and UCLA defeated New Mexico 7-1 Saturday.

• Epiphanny Prince scored all eight of Chicago's points in overtime as the Sky beat the host Atlanta Dream 94-92 in a WNBA game. Prince finished with a career-high 33 points.

In another game, Indiana routed the visiting New York Liberty 91-68.

• Reigning Olympic silver medalist Mike Day and bronze medalist Donny Robinson are among eight BMX riders who will compete for the automatic berth to the U.S. team headed to this summer's London Games. The BMX trials will be held June 16 in Chula Vista, Calif.

The winner will join David Herman and a discretionary choice to make up the three-man team.

Arielle Martin of Spanaway has qualified on the women's side by leading the power rankings. A discretionary pick will complete the two-woman team.

• Camelot, favored at 8-13 odds, won the English Derby at Epsom before a crowd that included Queen Elizabeth II at the start of her Diamond Jubilee festivities.

Camelot, trained by Aidan O'Brien, was ridden by the trainer's 19-year-old son, Joseph. The colt beat runner-up Main Sequence by 5 lengths in the 2.4-kilometer turf race.

• Game On Dude ($4 to win) led all the way and took the Grade II Californian by a stakes-record margin of 7 ¼ lengths over Kettle Corn at Betfair Hollywood Park in Inglewood, Calif.

Seattle Times news services