Slippery Rock University concluded the Fall 2005 sports season in the lead for the Dixon Tropjy, emblematic of the top athletic program in the 14-team Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference.

SRU accumulated 68 points in the fall. Indiana (Pa.) has 65 ½ points and Edinboro is third with 58 ½.

The Rock sponsors 23 intercollegiate sports.

Slippery Rock University freshman cross country runner Jeff Weiss has been named Division II East Regional men's Athlete of the Year by the U.S. Track and Field and Cross Country Coaches Association.Weiss finished third in the Division II national championships this season.

Knoch graduate Greg Bzorek, a senior tackle on the Edinboro University football team, has been selected to play in the Cactus Bowl.The Division II all-star football game takes place Jan. 6 in Kingsville, Texas.Fellow Edinboro offensive lineman LaMont Singleton will join Bzorek in the game. The Fighting Scots allowed only 16 quarterback sacks the past two seasons combined.Bzorek started 44 of 45 games in his collegiate career and did not allow a sack the past two years.

DETROIT — Red Wings defenseman Jiri Fischer had another abnormal heartbeat this week and returned to the hospital for treatment.He was released and is to undergo further testing at the University of Michigan Medical Center in Ann Arbor.Fischer last week collapsed in convulsions on the bench during a game against Nashville.

NEW YORK — Barry Bonds told the players' association he plans to play for the United States in next year's inaugural World Baseball Classic.Bonds missed almost all of last season because of a knee injury.

SAN FRANCISCO — BALCO founder Victor Conte is to begin serving a four-month prison sentence Thursday for orchestrating an illegal steroids distribution scheme that reportedly involved Barry Bonds and Jason Giambi.Conte was sentenced in October to four months in prison and four months' home confinement in a plea deal with federal prosecutors. He said he will report to a minimum security prison in Taft, about 120 miles from Los Angeles.Conte founded and managed the Burlingame-based Bay Area Laboratory Co-Operative, where the steroids were sold. He pleaded guilty to money laundering and a steroid distribution charge, and dozens of other charges were dropped as part of his plea deal.

LOUISVILLE, Ky. — USC's Matt Leinart won the Johnny Unitas Golden Arm Award given to the top senior quarterback in college football.Leinart has completed 233 of 351 passes this season for 3,217 yards and 24 touchdowns for the top-ranked Trojans. He is 36-1 as a starter in his career.