Andrea Kropp finishes one place away from Olympic Games

As impressive as her third-place finishes were in Friday morning’s preliminary heat and the Friday evening semifinal swim of the 200-meter breaststroke at the U.S. Olympic Swimming Team Trials, Andrea Kropp knew she would have to do even better in the final heat of the event to catch Rebecca Soni and Micah Lawrence.

Kropp could climb no higher than third on Saturday at CenturyLink Center in Omaha, however, which just wasn’t quite enough to fulfill her dream, as only the top two swimmers from each event, plus four more in both the 100 and 200 freestyles, qualify for the 2012 Olympics, set for July 27-Aug. 12 in London.

Kropp, a 2010 graduate of Flintridge Sacred Heart Academy, where she was a two-time All-Area Girls’ Swimmer of the Year, did manage to shave a few ticks off her semifinal time in Saturday’s final, going from a mark of 2 minutes 24.93 seconds to 2:24.82.

But Soni also dropped from a 2:21.45 on Friday to a 2:21.13 on Saturday to win the trial and runner-up Lawrence was able to drop more than a full second in going from 2:24.12 Friday to 2:23.03 Saturday.

La Cañada High graduate Katy Campbell, who won her fourth CIF Southern Section Division I 500-yard freestyle title in May, also competed in Omaha on Saturday.

The reigning All-Area Girls’ Swimmer of the Year did not advance out of the morning preliminary heat in the 800-meter freestyle after posting the 31st-best time of 8:49.42.