Kropp swims to silver in international waters

Amid a whirlwind of travel and phenomenal competition, Andrea Kropp is experiencing an accumulation of success.

On Tuesday in the women’s 200-meter breaststroke final, the Flintridge Sacred Heart Academy graduate garnered a silver medal at the World University Games in Shenzen, China.

“I just wanted to go out and do the best that I could,” said Kropp at a post-event press conference. “I’ve had a great time at these games so far and the Chinese people are so welcoming and they’ve made me feel completely at home and ready to swim.”

The silver-medal performance comes on the heels of Kropp, an incoming sophomore at Princeton University, capturing her second consecutive 18-under title with a fourth-place finish at the U.S. Swimming National Championships on Aug. 6 at Stanford.

In Stanford, Kropp, a former two-time All-Area Girls’ Swimmer of the Year and the 2009-10 News-Press Female Athlete of the Year, swam to a then-personal-best time of 2 minutes 27.61 seconds.

In China, however, Kropp was even more impressive dropping more than a second of her time for a lifetime-best mark of 2:26.18.

Kropp, who competes for Rattler Swim Club and previously represented Swim Pasadena, was taking part in the World University Games for the first time. She concluded her performance with Tuesday’s swim, while the games began Saturday and will conclude Friday.

Sun Ye of China swam to a first-place mark of 2:24.63 in the 200 breaststroke, while Japan’s Satomi Suzuki took bronze in 2:26.67.