New Hanover baseball ace wins close vote for Week 8 StarNewsVarsity top athlete honors

We had four non-seniors who had big nights in big moments for their teams last week, leading them to be the finalists for StarNewsVarsity Athlete of the Week for Week 8 of the spring high school sports season.

And when the votes were counted, it was a close, close finish.

And Bromley Thornton of New Hanover baseball edged out the win, by less than 200 votes.

Thornton continued a big season on the mound for the Wildcats, striking out 10 in a complete-game shutout win over Laney. The Wildcats are in second place in the Mideastern Conference and play first-place South Brunswick on Tuesday.

Standout performers: Wilmington-area high school standout performers for April 18-23

Here were the other finalists:

Macey Ciamillo, Hoggard softball: The freshman picked up two more wins in the circle for the Vikings, who remain tied for first place in the Mideastern Conference. She struck out five and allowed two baserunners in Tuesday’s five-inning win over Ashley, then scattered three hits and four walks in a complete-game 8-1 win over Laney. She struck out six Bucs.

Jeremy Conklin, Hoggard boys lacrosse: The Vikings exploded for 56 goals in three games last week, including an 18-7 domination of Charlotte Catholic on Saturday. The Vikings controlled the scoreboard thanks to Conklin, their sophomore face-off leader, who went 52-for-69 in the middle. Hoggard now has clinched the Mideastern Conference title going into the last week of the regular season.

Makayla Grice, Ashley girls track & field: The sophomore has been outstanding all season in the sprints and continued that success in the New Hanover County championship meet last week. She swept the 100-, 200- and 400-meter dashes again, including the 400 by more than 2 seconds.

Dan Spears is the sports editor for the Wilmington StarNews, and Southeast Regional sports editor for the USA TODAY Network. Reach him at Dan.Spears@StarNewsOnline.com or on Twitter @DanSpears.

This article originally appeared on Wilmington StarNews: StarNewsVarsity Athlete of the Week for April 18-23