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ANOTHER WILDCAT IN THE SUPER BOWL

We are proud to see a Wildcat in the Super Bowl once again as Rob Gronkowski will be playing in his sixth Super Bowl when the Tampa Buccaneers face the Kansas City Chiefs on Sunday, February 7. Super Bowl LV will also mark the 52^nd time in Arizona Football history that a former Wildcat will play for an NFL championship.


 
Head Coach Jedd Fisch also has ties to football's biggest game as he coached in a Super Bowl during his time on Sean McVay's staff with the Los Angeles Rams who faced Rob Gronkowski and the New England Patriots in Super Bowl LIII.
 
Our focus at Arizona Athletics is to provide a championship student-athlete experience for all 500 Wildcats who don the Block A and represent the University of Arizona. That experience also includes life beyond campus when our student-athletes strive for excellence as Wildcats in professional sports as well as their professional careers outside of sports. Watching a Wildcat compete for a professional championship is a proud moment, and we will all be cheering for Rob come Super Bowl Sunday.
 
2021 ARIZONA INTERCOLLEGIATE



Coach Anderson and the Wildcats battled wind and snow delays for three days to win the Arizona Intercollegiate for a fourth consecutive year as senior Brad Reeves won the individual title for the Wildcats. Brad became the first Wildcat to win an individual championship at an event since George Cunningham in 2018.
 
Arizona Men's Golf showed tremendous determination as it defeated a quality field to capture the team and individual championships. This week's win was a great way to open the season in the first multi-team tournament of the year and it is a sign of great things to come this spring. Congratulations to our entire program and Brad on a fantastic week out at Sewailo Golf Course. Bear Down and Go Cats!
 
SUN DEVIL SWEEP



Congratulations to Arizona Men's Basketball on completing its regular season sweep of Arizona State with an impressive 13-point win on Monday night. Freshman Azoulas Tubelis picked up his first ever double-double with 16 points and 12 rebounds in Monday's win in McKale after hitting the game-winning shot four days earlier in Tempe. The Wildcats have now swept Arizona State in four of the last six seasons as Coach Miller has improved his record against the Sun Devils to 17-7 as our head coach.
 
The team is now 12-3 on the season and 6-3 in Pac-12 play with two more conference home games this week. We will welcome the Bay Area schools to McKale Center later this week, beginning with Stanford on Thursday, Jan. 28 at 8 p.m. (MST) on ESPN2 as well as Wildcats Radio 1290 AM.
 
PROGRAM SPOTLIGHT: ARIZONA'S GYMCATS



Arizona Gymnastics' season is officially underway after the team's strong showing at No. 10 Utah last weekend as the program posted its second highest score in a season-opening meet in 15 years. The GymCats had a strong performance on the beam as freshman Jessica Castles scored an impressive 9.900 in her first collegiate meet.
 
The Wildcats began the season with a national ranking of No. 24 in the WCGA Preseason poll and have already moved up to 15^th. Our roster is loaded with decorated returners, including seniors Laura Leigh Horton and Payton Bellows. Coach John Court is in his third season as head coach and has the program poised for a terrific fall season.
 
Arizona has seven more regular season meets against a variety of the Pac-12 programs before the 2021 Pac-12 Championships, which are scheduled to begin on Saturday, March 20 in West Valley City, Utah.
 
SCHEDULE UPDATES

Spring will be a busy time for Wildcats as many of our programs will be competing in the coming months. We continue to release individual schedules for each of our programs as they become finalized as Arizona Soccer was our most recent team to announce its spring schedule.
 
We want to continue to encourage all our supporters and fans to utilize ArizonaWildcats.com as the ultimate source for up-to-date schedules for all our programs. Our schedules will continue to be fluid as we move through the spring, and our online composite calendar is a great resource to stay current with all our competitions.
 
CONFERENCE LEADERSHIP CHANGE

In the days following last week's Wildcat Wednesday email, the Pac-12 Conference announced that commissioner Larry Scott would step away from his position. I'd like to thank Larry for his decade of service to the Pac-12 and for working to enhance the student-athlete experience across our many sports. With the ever-changing landscape of college athletics, it is time to identify and develop new leadership to elevate the Pac-12 and its member institutions for a future of competitive excellence, academic achievements and impactful experiences for student-athletes, alumni and fans. I look forward to working with my fellow athletic directors and our Pac-12 CEO group in the process for the next dynamic leader of our conference.

WEAR THE COLORS – SHARE THE PHOTOS

Send us your photos of you wearing the colors while staying safe!

Thank you for wearing the colors and sharing your Arizona pride! Make sure to take a picture the next time you are wearing the colors and send it to us, we just might include it in next week's Wildcat Wednesday! And even if your photo submission doesn't make  next week's edition, 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.

Stay Safe, Bear Down and Mask Up!
 
Dave Heeke
Director of Athletics
University of Arizona
uofaad@arizona.edu