Menomonie (WQOW) -- When the high school football season kicks off next month, Menomonie will find itself a bit shorthanded, as ten student-athletes will have to sit out the first three games of the Mustangs' season.
Those ten athletes had consumed an energy drink which contains a substance banned by the WIAA. Menomonie superintendent Chris Stratton tells News 18 the issue was brought to the school's attention on Monday by the WIAA, after that organization received an anonymous tip from an individual who had read Twitter postings from one of more of the athletes about their use of the energy drink.
Menomonie athletic director Bart Boettcher and head football coach Joe LaBuda then questioned the ten athletes, who admitted using an energy drink called C-Four Extreme. That drink contains synephrine, a substance banned by the WIAA.
WIAA deputy director Wade Labecki tells News 18 Sports Director Bob Bradovich that synephrine is a substance banned by both the WIAA and NCAA.
"There's possible kidney damage," says Labecki, "that stuff raises your heart rate, it raises your blood pressure, it raises your pulse rate, it does so many things to your heart, you can do some serious damage and have some serious problems."
Labecki says the problem with supplements and banned substances is in no way limited to Menomonie, it's a Wisconsin and national issue.
"We're always trying to educate, it's not just even in Wisconsin, it's all over," Labecki says, "when you read the side effects of this one [synephrine], there's skin itching and stuff like that, advanced heart rate, it should be a clue that this isn't something I should be putting in my body."
All ten individuals suspended by Menomonie high school are multi-sport athletes, but since they all play football, their suspensions will begin at the outset of the next season in which they participate. Boettcher and Stratton say the three-game suspensions would have been longer had those athletes not been forthcoming when they were questioned about what happened.
The suspensions will cover the first three games of the football season, which are road trips to Merrill and Chippewa Falls, followed by a home matchup with Eau Claire Memorial.
Superintendent Stratton says the matter is unfortunate, but it sends a message that what looks innocent may not be. Stratton also says she hopes awareness is raised at other area schools.
