Penn Station to Announce Local Athlete of the Year During May 12 Dragons Game

Dayton, Ohio – The Dayton Dragons will announce the Penn Station Athlete of the Year during a special inning break of the Dragons game on Tuesday, May 12, against the Lake County Captains at Day Air Ballpark in the heart of the Water Street District. The game will start at 7:05 pm.

Eight of this year’s Athlete of the Month Winners will be honored during a special inning-break ceremony on the field during the game, and Penn Station representatives in conjunction with program partners WDTN will announce this year’s overall winner and present them with the coveted $10,000 college scholarship, as well as an engraved bat from the Dayton Dragons.

Eight athletes from the Miami Valley were selected as Athlete of the Month in 2026:

• C.J. Bailey – Tippecanoe High School
• Evie Connor – Oakwood High School
• Kaylah Thornton – Fairmont High School
• Nathan Attisano – Legacy Christian Academy
• Rowen Arnold – Springboro High School
• Shawn Fishwick – Xenia High School
• Sidney Sprada – Brookville High School
• Trey Sagester – Tri-Village High School

For the past 28 years, Penn Station has been honoring the best of Dayton’s youth with its “Athlete of the Month” program. In 1998, Penn Station launched the program to showcase the extraordinary student-athletes, scholastic achievement, and good citizenship in Dayton.

Since then, Penn Station East Coast Subs has awarded almost $200,000 in award money and college scholarships. More than 200 students have received “Athlete of the Month” recognition, and 27 have been awarded college scholarships. Each year, all eight monthly winners are automatically entered as Penn Station “Athlete of the Year” finalists for the opportunity to receive the $10,000 college scholarship.

Athletes and their schools receive recognition, donations to each school, hardware for their trophy cases, and exclusive Penn Station food benefits each month of the school year. Penn Station also awards the school with the most school spirit during its Penn Station Athlete of the Month presentations with a $2,500 check to its Athletic Department at the beginning of the following school year.

Penn Station is proud to note that many of the Athlete of the Month/Year awardees advance to triumph in professional and collegiate sports. Additionally, other honored Penn Station student-athletes have gone beyond their sport to achieve success in fields like medicine, business, finance, and more. Andrew Brennan, Owner at Penn Station franchisee Quaker Hospitality Holdings had this to say about recognizing student-athletes at a Dragons game: “The ownership group of Penn Station in Dayton is honored to recognize and provide a scholarship to these outstanding local student-athletes, which we have been for almost 30 years. We take great pride in giving back to our local communities in any way we can, having provided almost $200,000 in scholarship money. We look forward to honoring these student-athletes at Day Air Ballpark, which is at the center of the vibrant sports community in Southwest Ohio that we serve.”

Learn more about the Penn Station Athlete of the Month/Year program at https://www.penn-station.com/athlete/dayton/index.php