MONACO -- Olympic gold medalist Asli Cakir Alptekin of Turkey has been cleared to race again as she appeals an eight-year doping suspension.Alptekin was banned in August for eight years for blood doping and gave up her 1,500-meter gold medal from the 2012 Olympics, but is now appealing to the Court of Arbitration for Sport to reduce the ban, saying she assisted a corruption inquiry.The IAAF, tracks world governing body, told The Associated Press on Sunday in an e-mailed statement that it was CAS who have provisionally lifted the suspension and allowed her to compete.Alptekin faces a CAS hearing Monday but the verdict may not be given immediately. She could in theory meet Olympic qualifying standards in time for next months games if the ban is overturned.Alptekin was banned for blood doping, but also embroiled in a case of alleged blackmail. A World Anti-Doping Agency commission last year accused two sons of former IAAF president Lamine Diack of trying to extort money from her to suppress a doping case.Alptekin wants her eight-year ban to be cut because of alleged substantial assistance provided to WADA in investigating Diacks sons, the court said last month.Alptekins gold medal from the 2012 Olympics has not been formally reallocated. The silver medalist, fellow Turk Gamze Bulut, has also been investigated for alleged doping. Seattle Mariners Shirts . 10 Texas Rangers jersey for one last time. Young formally announced his retirement Friday after returning to Rangers Ballpark, his baseball home for all but the last of his 13 major league seasons. Seattle Mariners Gear . 8 Kansas to a 64-63 win over Texas Tech on Tuesday night. The freshman from Vaughan, Ont. https://www.cheapmariners.com/ .ca looks back at the stories and moments that made the year memorable. Wholesale Mariners Jerseys . Just as Montreal was settling into the first full working week of a new year, the Impact announced the appointment of their new head coach. Mariners Jerseys 2020 . Carey Price didnt, but he still came out on top against one of his rivals for the No. 1 job at the Sochi Games. The Anahim Lake, B.C., native was stellar in making 39 saves in his home province and Lars Eller got credit for a bizarre short-handed winner as the Canadiens defeated the Canucks 4-1. WACO, Texas -- Lauren Cox learned very quickly that Natalie Chou has a voracious appetite, will sing along to anything that comes on the radio and wont put a skateboard down until she has learned how to skate.Before they became roommates at Baylor this summer, Cox and Chou mostly knew each other as highly competitive, decorated rivals in Dallas.It was always us two, me against Lauren in seventh and eighth grades, Chou said. And then in high school, we were in the same district so we would play against each other at least two times. That would always be a big game.Cox and Chou, ranked the No. 1 and No. 8 recruits in the country by ESPN, will play in many more massive games for the next four years as teammates. The prized freshmen, along with No. 40 prospect Calveion Juicy Landrum, take their first road trip on Thursday, and it will surely will be one they wont forget.No. 2 Baylor visits No. 3 UConn with the Huskies looking to extend their 76-game winning streak with a victory in Storrs. The Huskies (1-0) will be Baylors second top-10 opponent this week after the Bears (2-0) beat ninth-ranked UCLA at home, 84-70.Usually, UConn has the star-studded recruiting class. But Baylor head coach Kim Mulkey might have her best crop of freshmen in her 17 seasons at Waco, and thats saying a lot.While Cox and Chou had been teammates once before on the 2014 USA U17 World Championship team -- they helped USA go 7-0 and bonded half a world away in the Czech Republic -- the two never really considered playing together at the collegiate level.At least not until Mulkey had the two in her office for a visit at Baylor.Mulkey made a detailed, eye-opening pitch of seamless pick-and-rolls, perhaps allowing Cox and Chou to fantasize about becoming the Green and Gold version of Stockton and Malone. The coach also talked about the 6-foot-1 Chous perimeter shooting, passing and versatility to play three positions -- and how that would fit nicely with the 6-foot-4 Coxs stellar post game.Apart, the two would be just fine wherever they went. Together, however, Cox and Chou could be a championship-caliber combination in the future.When I recruited them, I talked about together, Mulkey said. The combination of a post player and a perimeter player and what they could mean to each other.Their personalities are similar in that they are very basketball savvy. They grew up in homes where their parents are very involved in their careers, and now they can go to the next level and do it together.Cox stunned Mulkey by committing as she posed for a photo shoot in a Baylor uniform on her official visit, and Chou signed two weeks later.(Mulkeys pitch about teaming up) was eye-opening, Chou said. She put everything into reality. Lauren is like the best post power forward, and I am a really good shooter, so having her would help me a lot, and we know eeach others games so well so it would be great.ddddddddddddThe two McDonalds All-Americans joined Landrum to give Mulkey whats considered the best recruiting class in the country by some and the second-best class?according to ESPN. All three have deep basketball roots, too. Chous mother, Quanli Li, played professional basketball in China. Coxs parents, Dennis and Brenda, played college basketball, and Landrums sister, Porsha Roberts, plays professionally.How much Mulkey will play her freshmen remains to be seen. Cox logged just four minutes and missed all four of her shots against UCLA as Mulkey relied on an impressive frontcourt with the likes of preseason All-American forward Nina Davis and Kalani Brown. Brown had 25 points, 19 rebounds, 6 assists and 5 blocks against the Bruins.Chou and Landrum play behind a veteran backcourt of Alexis Jones, Alexis Prince and Kristy Wallace. Chou logged 12 minutes and went scoreless, while Landrum did not play against UCLA.Of course, the freshmen trio came to Baylor knowing they would try to support a Bears squad that returned four starters from a 36-2 team last season.I am really hard on myself, so I do have high expectations for myself, said Cox, who is Baylors first No. 1 recruit in the country since Brittney Griner in 2009. If I do want to have that playing time and contribute to the team, I will have to work hard because we have really good returning posts on the team.In Baylors first non-exhibition game of the season, the three freshmen saw extended playing time in a 118-43 blowout over Houston Baptist. Chou led the freshmen with 11 points, 5 rebounds, 4 assists, 3 steals and 1 block, while Cox had 8 points, 6 rebounds, 3 assists and 3 blocks. Landrum added 5 rebounds, 4 assists, 3 points, 2 steals and 1 block.Mulkey hopes her freshmen will wreak havoc on opponents in the future. For now, she wants them to find enough harmony on the court to be the pieces that make this Baylor juggernaut a championship team.The three Texas girls havent come up with a nickname for their class, but their goal and the teams motto is clear and catchy: Destination Dallas. Baylor hopes to return to the Final Four for the first time since 2012, when the Bears went 40-0 and won the national championship.Once local rivals, Cox and Chou would love nothing more than to come home and compete for a championship together.From over the years, we would know how each other play, and we knew each others strengths and what we liked to do, Chou said. So having that connection already and history really, I think, helps.We have a lot of Dallas girls on this team. So we feel like we would be playing in front of our family, and our goal is to win the national championship. ' ' '