Wildcat Wednesday – Join Us on June 23 to Celebrate Title IX
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JOIN US ON JUNE 23 TO CELEBRATE TITLE IX
Set those calendars and save the date for Arizona Athletics’ Title IX Anniversary Celebration Event Thursday, June 23 for our full day of festivities for the 50th anniversary of the enactment of Title IX. Reservations are free to attend as we will kick things off in the morning with a Field Day experience inside the Cole and Jeannie Davis Sports Center for youngsters, grades kindergarten to eighth, to participate in some sporting activities alongside current Arizona student-athletes. The morning’s keynote speaker will be Arizona Athletics trail blazer and hall of fame administrator Rocky LaRose.
After lunch, our athletics department will host an educational and informative panel on the impact of Title IX on our society and how the youngsters in attendance can help shape the future opportunities of women in sports. Our panel members will include Arizona All-American and ESPN Softball analyst Jenny Dalton-Hill, head women’s basketball coach Adia Barnes as well as NCAA Woman of the Year recipients Tanya Hughes and Lacey John among other prominent figures in department history.
Parents will be asked to accompany their children throughout the morning before the lunchtime panel begins at 11:30 a.m. (MST). A free meal will be provided to those who reserve a ticket for the lunchtime panel. Please make your free reservation to attend Arizona Athletics’ Title IX Celebration by clicking here.
We can’t wait to see the Wildcat Family on campus on June 23 as we recognize the powerful transformation Title IX has had on college athletics and Arizona Athletics.
HISTORIC ACHIEVEMENT FOR MEN’S TENNIS
Congratulations to our men’s tennis student-athletes, coaches and staff on winning the program’s first ever Pac-12 championship on Sunday at the University of Washington. This is a monumental achievement that was accomplished through hard work on the court, excellence in the classroom and building a connection with our Southern Arizona community.
The conference title also cements the program’s place among the nation’s elite as Coach Shields has elevated the program to a championship standard in all facets. Arizona Men’s Tennis has come to embody our Wildcat Way mission to develop athletic, academic and life champions.
Our entire athletics department strives for championship excellence in everything we do, and the hard work and determination of our entire men’s tennis program highlights that lofty standard. Hats off to the entire program for this tremendous accomplishment and for showing us all what it means to be a Wildcat.
ARIZONA BASEBALL HOME WEEKEND SERIES
After an extended road trip, Coach Hale and the Wildcats are back in action at Hi Corbett to take on Arizona State for a weekend series. We’ve got a ton of great promotions for fans to enjoy, which begin with Little League Day at the ballpark for Friday’s 6 p.m. (MST) game. We will hold a pregame Little League parade before welcoming fans to play catch on the field after the game with 500 complimentary Koozies given away when gates open. Arizona Diving star, and Olympic silver medalist, Delaney Schnell will throw out the ceremonial first pitch.
Saturday will be ZonaZoo and Student Appreciation Day at the ballpark for the 5 p.m. (MST) game. We’d like to remind you that student attendance at all home baseball games is free when you show your CatCard at the gates, regardless of whether or not you are a ZonaZoo member. Complimentary fans will be given to the first 800 guests through the gates to help cool down during the game.
We are capping the weekend with Sunday Funday at Hi Corbett Field with Daniel Susac trading cards and a postgame running of the basis for the youngsters in attendance. There are a lot of great reasons to make it down to Hi Corbett Field to catch Arizona Baseball in action, so click here to buy your tickets now.
RECAPPING THE CATSYS
The CATSYs, our annual student-athlete award show, returned to McKale Center on Monday as we paid tribute to the outstanding accomplishments of our student-athletes. Shining a light on the excellence achieved by student-athletes in front of all our programs and staff is a favorite tradition of our athletics department, and it was great to have Arizona alum Alex Flanagan return to campus to host the show.
Among the many awards given, we recognized our #CommunityCats as Arizona Men’s Tennis, Jordan Morgan from Football and Sam Noennig from Track & Field received our team and individual community service awards for making a difference in service to Southern Arizona. We also honored our programs with the best grade point averages, which were our Gymnastics and Men’s Tennis programs. We also recognized alumni, Jane Dougall and Branch McNeal, with our prestigious silver anniversary award.
Our class awards culminated with two decorated senior student-athletes taking home the Ruby and Sapphire awards. Women’s Basketball’s Sam Thomas and Brooks Fail from Swimming & Diving took home the momentous awards as terrific representatives of the Wildcat Way as academic, athletic and life champions.
WOMEN’S BASKETBALL’S ELITE RECRUITING CLASS
Coach Barnes and our women’s basketball program added to its highly-decorated recruiting class last week with the signing of McDonald’s All-American, Paris Clark, from New York. Paris bolsters an already-strong recruiting class that now ranks sixth nationally, according to ESPN. She will join Maya Nnaji, Kailyn Gilbert and Lemyah Holton as the highest-ranked incoming recruiting class in program history.
Arizona Women’s Basketball is a national program that competes at the highest levels of college basketball, and Coach Barnes and her staff continue to recruit elite student-athletes who proudly represent the program, athletics department and the University of Arizona. If you haven’t renewed your women’s basketball season tickets, you can click here to do so now.
BEARDOWN PODCAST
The BearDown Podcast, which is the official podcast of Arizona Athletics, continues its first season with a new episode featuring a legendary Wildcat. Tanya Hughes was inducted into the Pac-12 Hall of Honor in March during the 50th anniversary of the passing of Title IX, which capped an enlightening conversation about her Wildcat journey, a true champion’s career and life after competition.
All episodes of the podcast are available on Spotify, Apple Podcasts as well as the Arizona Athletics YouTube Channel. Download, listen, subscribe and enjoy our conversations with the student-athletes, coaches and alumni who make up our athletics department.
PAC-12 CHAMPIONSHIPS
The Pac-12 Championships for women’s and men’s tennis began this week in Southern California as both of our tennis programs look to add to their win totals and excellent seasons. Arizona Women’s Tennis dropped its opener to Utah in the championships but have amassed its most wins in half of a decade.
The men’s side will have a first serve on Thursday, April 21 at noon versus Washington who they defeated on Sunday to clinch their first ever Pac-12 title. You can follow @ArizonaMTennis on social media as well as ArizonaWildcats.com for live stats and match updates.
Both programs have had banner seasons, and we always enjoy seeing them compete for championships and add to the legacies of the programs. Bear Down and Go Cats!
WEAR THE COLORS – SHARE THE PHOTOS
In San Antonio supporting the Cats March Madness journey. Bret Borg, Nancy Borg and Katie Borg.
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 [email protected] 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.
Bear Down and Go Cats!
Dave Heeke
Vice President and Director of Athletics
University of Arizona
[email protected]
