Nine Bearcats Celebrate August Graduations

CINCINNATI -- The University of Cincinnati saw nine student-athletes complete their degrees ahead of last week's August commencement.

Eight of the graduates competed this past season, while Rashad Bishop (2007-11) returned following a professional basketball career. With his interdisciplinary studies degree, he looks to begin a college basketball coaching career.

Hayden Koval (men's basketball, master's in business administration) is headed to Slovakia shortly to begin his pro journey.
Riley Dafoe (swimming and diving, marketing) will work towards his MBA at Niagara University.
Murat Sagdullaev (swimming and diving, information technology/cybersecurity) plans to earn an MSIT degree in cybersecurity and continue working in the industry. He will also continue his swim career at UC.
Cannon Riddle (track and field, master's in criminal justice) will seek a career in anti-money laundering investigations at Chase, eventually becoming a homeland security investigations special agent.
Akira Levy (women's basketball, interdisciplinary studies) will pursue a master's degree in sports education with aspirations to be a coach one day.
Han Tang (women's soccer, interdisciplinary studies) will take her talents on the pitch back to her native China.
Molly Chelovitz (swimming and diving, marketing) will work at Dinsmore & Shohl in Cincinnati as a litigation support analyst while applying for law school with hopes of practicing sports law.
Maddie Exton (swimming and diving, master's in education studies and higher education administration) will continue working as an academic advisor in UC's College of Nursing.

Among its banner year on and off the playing surface, all 16 UC programs posted a 3.0 or higher team GPA with the Bearcats' student-athletes collectively posting a 3.369 GPA for the spring 2022 semester, marking the ninth consecutive semester of a 3.3 or higher departmental GPA. Cincinnati also claimed 10 of 18 possible AAC Team Academic Excellence awards, a league record, to go with six CoSIDA Academic All-Americans.