Follow Dave Heeke on Twitter | Sign Up for the Wildcat Wednesday

WOMEN'S GOLF VICTORY

Coach Ianello and Arizona Women's Golf continued their dominant season by adding a Wildcat Invitational championship to this season's trophy case. Arizona handled the opposition from start to finish and bested the field by an impressive 22 strokes for its second team title of the season after winning the Pac-12 Preview in November. Freshman Kailie Vongsaga won the individual title, finishing 9-under par. She led a group of four Wildcats who finished in the top five of the individual leaderboard with freshman Vivian Hou finishing in second place one stroke behind Kailie.


 
This week's win will propel the team into its final two events of the regular season before the Pac-12 Championships in late April on the campus of Stanford University. Tip of the cap to Coach Ianello, her staff and all our student-athletes on this outstanding win and for being great representatives of the University of Arizona!
 
HISTORICAL SHOWING



Arizona Men's Swimming posted an impressive second-place finish at the Pac-12 Championships, marking its best finish since 1996. The Wildcats were propelled by their first individual conference titles since 2015, which were won by Bjork Markentin in Platform Diving and Brooks Fail in the 1,650-meter freestyle.
 
The team of Jorge Iga, Noah Reid, Thomas Anderson and Marin Ercegovic gave Arizona a second-place finish in the 200-meter freestyle relay but posted the fourth-fastest time in the nation this year at 1:16.33.
 
Congratulations to Coach Busch, his staff and all our swimming and diving student-athletes for the fantastic performances at the Pac-12 Championships. Best of luck to our men's and women's swimming and diving teams as they compete at the NCAA Championships later this month.
 
BEAR DOWN WITH ARIZONA FOOTBALL



Coach Sumlin and Arizona Football have completed four spring practices as our student-athletes and staff continue to work hard towards for the 2020 season. We continue to chronicle spring football through our notebook series on ArizonaWildcats.com. We also want to keep you up to date on our future spring dates for your calendars.
 
Arizona Athletics will host a "Behind The A" event on Wednesday, March 25 at Arizona Stadium with this new date and time selected to avoid conflicts with any potential NCAA women's basketball postseason plans at McKale Center. This event will be held following practice, with doors opening at 6 p.m. (MST) and an estimated program start time of 6:45 p.m., as fans in attendance can watch the end of practice, mingle with the coaching staff, and join in on a Q&A session hosted by Dana Cooper. Season ticket holders can RSVP to the event for free while the general public can purchase tickets for $5. RSVP's for all fans planning to attend also include one meal and two drink tickets, and we are asking all attendees to RSVP by March 23.
 
Our third annual KidCats Arizona Spring Football Experience is set for 11:30 a.m. (MST) on Saturday, March 28. This free football clinic with the Wildcats is exclusively for our KidCats Club members. The Arizona Athletics KidCats Club is the official team of fans in Kindergarten through eighth grade. Memberships are just $15 and include a t-shirt as well as free admission to select baseball, softball and track and field games and meets. You can sign up your young Arizona fans for the KidCats Club by clicking here.
 
ATHLETIC AND ACADEMIC AWARDS



The postseason award season has begun for Arizona Men's Basketball as Zeke Nnaji, Nico Mannion and Dylan Smith all earned conference honors from the Pac-12. Zeke became the fifth Wildcat to be named Pac-12 Freshman of the Year since 2010 as he also earned a spot on the All-Conference First Team.
 
In addition to joining Zeke on the Pac-12 All-Freshman Team, Nico was also selected to the Second Team All-Pac-12 as Dylan Smith earned All-Defensive Team Honorable Mention as well. Arizona now has 24 student-athletes named to first or second team all-conference since 2010, the most in the Pac-12.
 
The program also received an outstanding academic award as Stone Gettings became the first player in program history to be named Pac-12 Scholar-Athlete of the Year. Stone transferred to Arizona after earning his undergraduate degree from Cornell and has maintained a perfect 4.00 GPA in his graduate studies from the prestigious Eller College of Management.
 
BIG TIME BASEBALL MATCH-UP



Sophomore catcher Austin Wells continues to collect the awards this season with this week's inclusion in the Buster Posey Award watchlist. This national accolade was announced as Arizona Baseball prepares to open Pac-12 play this weekend with the Oregon State Beavers paying a visit to Hi Corbett Field for a three-game series.
 
With postgame fireworks planned after Saturday's game and trading card giveaways for Sunday, there are plenty of reasons to head down to Hi Corbett and Bear Down with the Wildcats. Click here to get your tickets for this marquee Pac-12 baseball match-up and be a part of the excitement with Coach Johnson and the Wildcats.
 
#CATSGIVEBACK



We had Wildcats giving back to our community last week as our men's and women's tennis programs held a youth clinic as part of the Tucson Community Tennis Program. The TCTP's mission is to teach tennis to youth in our community while educating them on the importance of a healthy and active lifestyle. The smiles on everyone's faces on the court showed us a good time was had by all! It's an honor for our athletics department and programs to give back to and serve our community that supports all Wildcats.
 
POSTSEASON BASKETBALL GEAR



You may have noticed our men's and women's basketball programs sporting this year's official postseason shootaround shirts at the Pac-12 Tournament. These bench tees from Nike will also be worn by both teams during the NCAA Tournament.
 
You can pick yours up at the A-Store inside McKale Center or online at BearDownShop.com. Bear Down and Go Cats!
 
PAC-12 PLAY AT HILLENBRAND



After an impressive 22-3 start to the season with a No. 4 national ranking, Coach Candrea and the Wildcats begin conference play this weekend as they host the Oregon State Beavers. The series begins at 6 p.m. (MST) on Friday, March 13 with 6 p.m. and 12 p.m. first pitches on Saturday and Sunday.
 
Hillenbrand Stadium has welcomed average crowds of 2,742 this season, which includes five sellouts. Our continued support of our fans at home games continues the legacy of Hillenbrand Stadium as the one-of-a-kind home venue of Arizona Softball. If you haven't gotten your tickets for this weekend's games, please click here to join us. 

UPCOMING SCHEDULE OF EVENTS

To view the list of upcoming events, broadcast information, start times and stat links, click HERE. (Note: All times are listed as Mountain Standard Time, i.e. Tucson time.)
 
To access live stats from your desktop or mobile device, visit ArizonaLiveStats.com.
 
WEAR THE COLORS – SHARE THE PHOTOS
 
Thank you for wearing the colors and sharing your Arizona pride! If your photo submission did not make this week's edition of the Wildcat Wednesday, please check our "Wear the Colors" album at facebook.com/ArizonaAthletics on Fridays.
 
NOTE: Please submit photos for Wildcat Wednesday with an original email to uofaad@arizona.edu using the subject line 'Wildcat Wednesday photo.' Also, please ensure all submissions are clear and properly lit. We also ask that you identify everyone in the photo so we can highlight them accordingly.
 
 
 
 
 
Continue to do what you can to help Arizona Athletics and: 

1. Bear Down with us today! Join the Wildcat Club to make an impact on our student-athletes' experience.
2. Buy Season Tickets
3. Wear the Colors (Especially on Friday)
4. Encourage Others to Do the Same

 
Bear Down with Pride,

Dave Heeke
Director of Athletics
University of Arizona
uofaad@arizona.edu