Brigetta Barrett celebrates winning the Olympic silver medal in the women’s high jump. Read on to see where that lands in the University of Arizona’s top sports stories of 2012. Photo by Mike Hewitt/Getty Images

We’re in the final week of the year, and no big news is expected out of the Arizona Wildcats.

The football team played in the first bowl game of the season and the men’s basketball team is off until Jan. 3 … so now is the time to look back at a rich 2012 for UA athletics.

The athletic department’s top storylines are a mix of season-long team success, postseason prowess, individual accomplishments and off-field news.

Here is what we came up with :

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Alex Mejia shares a light moment with an umpire during the championship series of the College World Series. Photo by Bruce Thorson-US PRESSWIRE

Former Arizona Wildcats shortstop Alex Mejia, not quite 100 at-bats into his professional career, suffered a torn ACL on Monday night.

Mejia, playing for the Class A Batavia Muckdogs of the New York-Penn League, was a fourth-round pick of the St. Louis Cardinals, the highest of five Wildcats selected in this summer’s draft.

Mejia was injured when beating out an errant throw to first base and “was forced to make a contorted move” around the first baseman, according to a story from The Daily News in Batavia, N.Y. Mejia was carted off the field.

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Seth Mejias-Brean played slick defense for Arizona during its national championship season. Photo by Matt Ryerson-US PRESSWIRE

Former Arizona Wildcats third baseman Seth Mejias-Brean made his minor-league debut on Thursday night with the Billings Mustangs.

He batted seventh and went 0-for-3 with a walk for the Mustangs, a rookie-ball affiliate of the Cincinnati Reds, who selected Mejias-Brean in the eighth round of last month’s draft.

Shortstop Alex Mejia, who was the first of five Wildcats to be selected in the draft, signed with the St. Louis Cardinals and has been assigned to the Batavia Muckdogs of the New York-Penn League. Mejia, who won Pac-12 Player of the Year and Defensive Player of the Year honors, was a fourth-round pick.

Undrafted outfielder Bobby Brown signed with the Kansas City Royals organization and assigned to Burlington in rookie ball.

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Arizona Wildcats junior shortstop Alex Mejia, the Pac-12 Player of the Year, was selected 150th overall by the St. Louis Cardinals in the baseball draft Tuesday.

Mejia, a fourth-round pick, was the highest Arizona player selected.

Mejia is hitting .367 with a slugging percentage of .504, having started all 58 games for the Wildcats. He also was chosen the Pac-12 Defensive Player of the Year.

The New York Yankees selected junior outfielder Robert Refsnyder with the 187th overall pick — the second-to-last selection in the fifth round. In announcing the picks, the Yankees list him as a second baseman. Refsnyder has a background in the infield and played second base some as a UA freshman.

The draft continues through 15 rounds Tuesday. The final 25 rounds will be held Wednesday.

Alex Mejia has played in 175 games at Arizona, starting each one at shortstop. Photo by Andy Morales, TucsonCitizen.com

Major league baseball will begin its three-day draft on Monday night, but a flurry of Arizona Wildcats will be more focused on the second day.

Arizona has several draft-eligible, draft-worthy players, led by five juniors — outfielder Robert Refsnyder, pitcher Kurt Heyer, shortstop Alex Mejia, third baseman Seth Mejias-Brean and outfielder Joey Rickard.

“Refsnyder is the one guy everybody loves, but, boy, they really like Alex,” coach Andy Lopez said of the pro scouts.

Refsnyder, the Cats’ cleanup hitter, is batting .353 with team highs of six home runs and 61 RBIs.

“Just the aptitude to hit,” Lopez said on what scouts like about Refsnyder. “He has good bat speed; he’s just a good hitter.”

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Andy Lopez is the Pac-12 Coach of the Year. Photo by Anthony Gimino, TucsonCitizen.com

Major Pac-12 honors came Wednesday after the Arizona baseball team earned its first conference co-championship in 20 years.

Junior shortstop Alex Mejia was selected the Pac-12 Player of the Year — as well as the league’s Defensive Player of the Year. And Andy Lopez, in his 11th year with the Wildcats, was chosen as the Pac-12 Coach of the Year for the first time.

Mejia, who is hitting .357 with a Pac-12-best 81 hits, is the first conference player of the year for Arizona since 2005, when outfielder Trevor Crowe won it. Mejia was one of six Arizona players named to the 25-player all-conference team.

The others are: designated hitter Bobby Brown, outfielder Johnny Field, pitcher Kurt Heyer, third baseman Seth Mejias-Brean and outfielder Robert Refsnyder. Outfielder Joey Rickard earned honorable mention all-conference honors.

For Lopez, this is his ninth conference coach of the year award, having won once at Florida, four times at Pepperdine and three times at Cal State Dominguez Hills. He won national coach of the years honors in 1992 (when he won the national title at Pepperdine) and Florida.

Arizona (38-17 overall) tied with UCLA for the league title with a 20-12 conference record.

The Wildcats will play host to a four-team double-elimination NCAA regional this weekend at Hi Corbett, starting with two games on Friday. Louisville and New Mexico State will play at 4 p.m., with top-seeded Arizona taking on Missouri at 8 p.m.

Mejia

When the Arizona Wildcats baseball team played its first game at its new home Friday night, coach Andy Lopez saw something he had never seen before.

And it had nothing to do with Hi Corbett Field.

His all-conference shortstop — right-handed-hitting junior Alex Mejia — was batting left-handed for the first time.

Let us explain.

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