Owen Zell is The Knightly News Athlete of the Year
Zell is truly stellar
By Dalton Koller
Knightly News Reporter
Baseball player Owen Zell was honored with The Knightly News Athlete of the Year Award at the Activities and Athletics banquet on May 22 in the Conference Center at Central Penn College.
Photo courtesy Central Penn Athletics
Zell is the seventh student-athlete and the second Knight’s baseball player to be given the award. In previous years, Connor Graham (2019), Ja-Lynn Burton-Jones (2020), Sydney Bubb (2022), Nate Jean-Philippe (2023), and Andrew Hunter (2024) took the award home.
To be named Knightly News Athlete of the Year, one must excel in three categories:
- Athletic achievements and performance.
- Classroom excellence and consistency
- Ability to provide access or assistance to student and faculty reporters.
The award, developed in 2019 as a way to recognize an outstanding athlete annually, stems from the continued partnership between Central Penn athletics and The Knightly News. The club broadcast all baseball, and men’s and women’s basketball, home games in the 2024-25 athletics season.
On the field, Zell was an anchor at second base and in the leadoff spot as he has been all four years as a Knight. He led the team in many categories, including:
- Games played (35).
- At-bats and plate appearances (121 and 142 respectively).
- Runs scored (40).
- Hits (45).
- Stolen bases (35).
He finished the year with a .372 batting average, a .465 on-base percentage and a .388 slugging percentage, with 15 RBIs (runs batted in), 19 walks to 11 strikeouts and he got caught stealing base three times in 38 attempts.
He also recorded his 100th career hit and stolen base this past season. He was also fantastic on defense, committing only three errors during the season and helped turn 11 double plays.
Off the field, Zell’s academic accolades are just as impressive. During his time at CPC, Zell has earned dean’s list honors nine times and has been named a United States Collegiate Athletic Association Academic All-American three times, so he certainly meets that criterion for this award.
He also showed an unwavering support for The Knightly News and what we do by helping to write several stories of his own and being on The Knightly News Podcast a handful of times. Zell has always helped the club in our mission of informing, storytelling and connecting the campus community.
“It really is an honor, being a college student-athlete requires balancing sports, academics and clubs,” Zell said. “I am very thankful, although I’m not perfect, to have the privilege of helping students, athletes, and faculty reach their ultimate goals while here at Central Penn. I have nothing but thanks for everyone.”
Zell is the embodiment of hard work paying off, both on and off the field, and I speak on behalf of the club when I say we truly appreciate everything he’s done for us in his time as a Knight.
And as a former teammate and current friend of his, I can say it’s been an honor not only playing alongside him these last four years but getting to know him and watch him mature into the man he is today.
This is Dalton Koller, with The Knightly News, signing off.
Koller, who is graduating, has served these last terms as co-president of The Knightly News Media Club @ Central Penn College.
Comment of story idea? Contact [email protected].
Edited by media club co-adviser and blog editor Professor Michael Lear-Olimpi.
