World junior 4 x 4 relay champ Michael Berry handed 3-month suspension...

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colorado--USADA announced that Michael Berry (left/photo by Kirby Lee, Image of Sport) who attended Rainier Beach HS, and recently signed a letter of intent to attend the University of Oregon, tested positive for a prohibited substance and accepted a suspension for his doping offense.

Berry, 18, tested positive for Carboxy THC, a metabolite of marijuana in the class of Cannabinoids, in a sample collected on June 26, 2010, at the USA Track & Field Outdoor Championships in Des Moines, Iowa. Cannabinoids are listed as Specified Substances and are prohibited under the USADA Protocol for Olympic and Paralympic Movement Testing and the International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF), both of which have adopted the World Anti-Doping Code and the WADA Prohibited List. Use of Specified Substances, under certain circumstances, can result in a reduced sanction from the standard two-year period of ineligibility.

Berry accepted a three-month period of ineligibility, which began on August 12, 2010, the day he accepted the sanction. The period of ineligibility can be suspended and reduced to time served since he accepted the sanction, upon his successful completion of a USADA anti-doping educational program.

As a result of the doping violation, Berry has been disqualified from all competitive results achieved at the USA Track & Field Outdoor Championships, where his sample was collected, including forfeiture of any medals, points, and prizes.

The full USADA press release can be read here.

The test did not wipe out his efforts for the American relay at the world junior meet last month in Moncton, according to the story posted by Yahoo! Sports.

Berry clocked an impressive 46.13 in winning the 400 meters at the USATF National Junior Olympics Aug. 1 in Sacramento, Calif. That was the second-fastest 400 by a high schooler in the U.S. in 2010.

Berry's high school and club coach Eric Metcalf, was caught by surprise when paulmerca.blogspot.com called him, adding that "it's news to me".