Tonaquint Intermediate student puts on eye-popping performance at Sunset Lanes

Willie Theis
·4 min read
Ella Phelps holds the sign which shows her games when she rolled her 581 series last week at Sunset Lanes. A student at Tonaquint Intermediate School, Phelps bowls in the youth bowling league on Saturday mornings.
Ella Phelps holds the sign which shows her games when she rolled her 581 series last week at Sunset Lanes. A student at Tonaquint Intermediate School, Phelps bowls in the youth bowling league on Saturday mornings.

One thing is certain. Ella Phelps is not a typical 12-year-old in many respects.

So is something else. It's a slam dunk you'll be reading about more of her eye-popping bowling achievements in the future.

But this week, she's getting her first-ever ink because of a standout performance in her Saturday morning youth bowling league at Sunset Lanes.

Does this mean she's a young bowling phenom? No. Not yet, But unless she disappears into an ocean-sized sinkhole she's on a trajectory of becoming one.

And if you've seen her bowl before, you already know we're not hyping this because you couldn't help but notice she already has an impressive silky-smooth left-handed delivery along with some good mechanics for a bowler her age.

And that's the perfect segue into highlighting her biggest scoring explosion this season as she peppered the lanes with games of 204, 158, and punctuated a standout effort with a 219 gem for an outstanding 581 series.

Pick any superlative and it applies to her positive attitude, work ethic, determination and other exemplary intangible qualities. Additionally, throw in the fact she sets goals for herself, and in a sign of maturity beyond her years, she knows one of the keys to accomplishing a goal is having a plan on how to achieve it. Now that's a blueprint for success.

I know. I hear you. You're thinking, are you sure this kid is only 12-years-old? That's an unequivocal, yes! So for her next goal in bowling a 600 series, her plan in achieving it is to practice on her game twice a week.

Meanwhile, along with bowling, she also loves running and has already competed in two 5K (3.1 miles) runs put together by the the highly acclaimed Girls on the Run Southern Utah youth organization. And here again, she had a plan in place to begin training six weeks before her scheduled 5K runs. And she also runs the sprints and long distance races for the Desert Hills Middle School track team.

Away from bowling and running, Phelps loves school, gets good grades, and enjoys helping and working with other students who may have questions on a challenging subject task. In fact, she'd eventually love to be a teacher.

And like any growing kid, she loves snacks, especially cheese flavored snacks. And when it comes to fast food, her favorite is the chicken sandwiches at Chick-fil-A, and her other favorite place to chow down on food is at Sakura in St. George where she always orders the salmon on the grill with chicken.

Finally, for entertainment she likes to play both the Nintendo Wii Just Dance and Wii bowling games, also likes mystery and true crime stories, and her favorite movie is Holes.

Switching gears here, before putting a bow on the 2021-22 season in adult league play, and while unofficial, it sure looks like Brendan Thomas pulled off a 2-peat in the high-average race in St. George with a 227, and for the women, his sister, Ashley Thomas' 199 looks to be high from the women's leagues this season.

Also, it should be noted that Joseph Graham, a former standout basketball player at Snow Canyon High School in his first year of adult league bowling took high average honors in the Tuesday Mixed Doubles League with an eye-popping 219 average, and that's two pins higher than amazing Blaine Hartley's 217.

Also major kudo's to the team of Ann Rasmusen, Kyle Kidman, Tony Zaccheus and Kevin Kidman who won the league championship in both the Industrial League and Dixie Ten Pins Leagues. Mighty impressive!

High scores

Here are the scores from the last regular adult league to finish bowling, the Dixie Sunday League. Dawn Thomas 618-232; Ashley Thomas 592-214; Tina Cruz 516; Todd Thomas 615-227; Trevor Miller 614-231; Jorge Grajeda 610-208; Audie Anderson 224; Paul Yssel 217; Mark Cruz 216; Ryan Gallian 214; Dave Conklin 211; Jordan Reddish 202.

Senior league scores

Jeff Anderson 647-274; Tim Swigart 635-256; Tony Zaccheus 633-233; Jeff Edwards 531-214; Dennis Craft 621-221; Norm Ritchie 603-207; Debbie Lehnen 569-214; Lyn Mariluch 522; Annie Bennett 515-213; Bill Dickey 222; Roger Bojarski 219; Bill Stauffer 213.

See you in September!

Willie Theis covers league bowling in St. George for The Spectrum & Daily News.

This article originally appeared on St. George Spectrum & Daily News: St. George-area 12-year-old puts up eye-popping scores at Sunset Lanes