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HAPPY WILDCATS THANKSGIVING
 
With the Thanksgiving holiday tomorrow, I want to take this opportunity to let you know how thankful I am to be the athletics director here at Arizona. My wife Liz and I have thoroughly enjoyed transitioning to the desert, and we're looking forward to many successful years here.
 
With that in mind, on behalf of the coaches, student-athletes and staff of Arizona Athletics, I want to wish all of you a Happy Thanksgiving. We hope you have a great day with family and friends, eat a great meal, and get ready for the Territorial Cup game on Saturday afternoon.
 
A COUPLE FALL SPORTS COME TO AN END
 
As we approach Thanksgiving, a couple of our fall sports, soccer and cross country, have wrapped up their seasons. Soccer had a fantastic year, finishing fourth in the Pac-12 and reaching the second round of the NCAA Tournament. The program has now won at least one NCAA Tournament match in three of the last four years after having won only two NCAA matches in the 20 years prior. In addition, their seven conference wins are a new program record. Congratulations to head coach Tony Amato, the staff and the student-athletes on a fine season.
 
Senior Claire Green's finish at the NCAA Championships highlighted our cross country season. Claire finished 24th in the final race of the season, making her one of 40 female student-athletes to earn All-America honors. Claire and the other members of our cross country team will now turn their attention to indoor track and field, which gets going in early January.
 
BLACK FRIDAY OFFER
 
Friday is a day when a lot of people look to knock out their holiday shopping and take advantage of Black Friday offers. With that in mind, did you know we offer Arizona Athletics ticket gift cards? These gift cards can be applied to anything the McKale Ticket Office sells, season tickets (including renewals), mini-plans, individual tickets, etc. For Black Friday, we're going to provide two tickets to a spring 2018 home event (excluding men's basketball) for every $50 purchased in gift cards. There are some restrictions and the offer expires at 5 p.m. MST on Monday. Click HERE to buy online.
 
RIVARLY NIGHT IN MCKALE
 
Volleyball wraps up the regular season on Saturday, Nov. 25 as they take on rival Arizona State at 7 p.m. for Senior Night. There will be a special postgame ceremony to honor our 2017 seniors. The football game should end with plenty of time to head over to McKale, so we're hoping to see a big crowd. We have a special offer for our football fans as well. Tickets are only $4 when you bring a ticket stub from any 2017 Arizona football home game to the box office. You can also purchase tickets online at ArizonaWildcats.com/VB.
 
RUNNING LOW ON HOLIDAY PACKS
 
I want to make sure you are aware that we are running low on men's basketball Holiday Packs. This year's Holiday Pack has a great lineup of games: Dec. 18 vs. North Dakota State, Dec. 21 vs. UConn, and Dec. 30 vs. ASU. Right now, Holiday Packs are the only way to purchase a ticket to those games. If we have inventory, single-game tickets for those games will go on sale Dec. 2.
 
Click HERE to buy a Holiday Pack or call (520) 621-CATS next week.
 
MAKE YOUR PLANS FOR THE PAC-12 MEN'S BASKETBALL TOURNAMENT
 
It's still a few months away, but it's never too early to make plans to travel to Las Vegas for the Pac-12 Men's Basketball Tournament. The Tournament is scheduled for Wednesday, March 7 to Saturday, March 10 and our friends at Bon Voyage Travel have some packages available for you. Click HERE to check out the three different options. This is going to be my first tournament, and needless to say, I'm pretty excited to see why everyone tells me #VegasIsWildcatCountry. We're looking forward to seeing everyone in Vegas for this year's tournament.
 
WOMEN'S BASKETBALL TO HOST NATIVE AMERICAN HERITAGE NIGHT
 
Women's basketball will be back in McKale on Tuesday, Nov. 28 at 7 p.m. when we host Long Beach State. It's Native American Heritage Night and we are partnering with the American Indian Alumni Club to celebrate Native American Heritage month. The first 500 fans will receive an Arizona basketball turquoise rally towel and we will also have a special halftime performance by the Star Point Drum Group. For tickets or more information, call (520) 621-CATS next week or click HERE.
 
CATS IN THE COMMUNITY
 
Our student-athletes are having fun this fall volunteering in the Tucson community. Last weekend, members of both the men's and women's tennis teams volunteered at the SaddleBrooke Tennis Club. The teams participated in an exhibition while supporting the University of Arizona Cancer Center's Skin Cancer Institute. Meanwhile, members of the men's and women's track and field programs volunteered with the Boys and Girls Club at the local Jim and Vicki Click Clubhouse. They interacted with club members by playing kickball and serving as mentors. 
 
Both the men's and women's golf teams have been busy volunteering. They recently helped at the Annual Divot Repair Party at the Omni Tucson National Resort. The women's team also volunteered with Girls Golf of Tucson on Saturday for the Super Girls Golf Day event. They spoke to those in attendance about their experiences as collegiate student-athletes and the importance of setting goals. Additionally, men's golfer Max Donohue visited an AVID classroom at Doolen Middle School where he also shared his experiences and talked about the importance of working hard in school.
 
We will be hosting a second CATS Give Back Week in February, so if you have a volunteer opportunity or speaking appearance that you would like a student-athlete or members of our staff to be a part of, you can submit an online request by visiting ArizonaWildcats.com/Outreach and clicking on the Student-Athlete Appearance link. From there, you can review our policy and submit an online request. If you have any questions, please call the Office of Community Relations at (520) 621-2331. 


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. Accept the Bear Down Challenge
2. Buy Season Tickets
3. Wear the Colors (Especially on Friday)
4. Get Others to Do the Same

 
Bear Down with Pride,

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