RAY SWANSON | Keystoner Westminster freshman runs off with conference honors

You could call him a Diamond in the rough. That's because Westminster College cross country runner Chris Diamond has been making it extremely rough on Titan opposition this season.
For the third time this season he has been named the Presidents' Athletic Conference men's cross country runner of the week.
That's no small achievement considering the many number of runners in the PAC. And he's only a freshman which makes his efforts even more notable.
Diamond, who hails from Dunmurry, Northern Ireland, posted his first college career invitational win on Oct. 9, when he captured the individual title at the Bethany College Invitational in Bethany, W.Va.
He finished first out of 30 runners in 28 minutes, 39.4 seconds, to win by 28 seconds while leading the Titans to the team title. You'll hear a lot more about this guy in the months and years ahead.
Sack king
Thiel College is still savoring its smashing 24-9 victory over arch rival Grove City recently.
The Tomcats are coached by former Hickory High standout and one-time coach at Allegheny, Jack Leipheimer.
The big story to come out of the game, other than the Tomcat victory, was the play of senior defensive end, George Kum-Nji. The 6-foot-2, 232-pound standout from Taylor Allderdice High in Pittsburgh, recorded a pair of sacks against the Wolverines to become the all-time leader in QB sacks in Thiel gridiron history with 23.5, topping the mark formerly held by Jason Diley who collected 22 in 1997.
Tough day
I can't remember when Westminster College's football suffered such a devastating setback. The Titans recently traveled to Washington, Pa., where they were manhandled by Washington & amp; Jefferson, 54-14, in a Presidents' Athletic Conference tussle, W & amp;J was undefeated at the time (6-0, 2-0 PAC). The Titans trailed 20-14 at the end of the first period but it was all downhill the rest of the way for the Titans.
But still, there were some sterling efforts by the Titans. Former West Middlesex High School standout Jake Buzard was one of three Titans lauded for sterling play. Buzard, along with junior defensive end Adam Hadbavny (Norwin High) and Dusty Rhodes, freshman punter (Niles) shared Titans of the Week honors.
Buzard caught four passes for 35 yards, with his longest reception a 15-yarder. Buzard is a sophomore wide receiver. Hadbavny had eight solo tackles and three pass breakups, while Rhodes recorded 12 punts for 366 yards with one kick inside the 20 and a long punt of 42 yards.
Swim captains
The Westminster College men's and women's swimming program has selected four captains for the 2004-05 season.
Seniors Erica McCullough (Baldwin High) and April Dollard (Trinity High) are the women's team captains while juniors Nate Horrell (Ligonier Valley) and Buck Thornton (Deer Lakes High) were nominated as the men's team captains.