Andrea Kropp adjusts to new setting with USC
The following are updates on local athletes at the collegiate level.
Andrea Kropp (Flintridge Sacred Heart Academy, 2010) USC swimming redshirt sophomore: After claiming an Ivy League championship at Princeton University in 2011, the former Tolog transferred to USC and put on a redshirt for her sophomore season.
She then went on to earn All-American status in the 200-yard breaststroke with the Trojans in 2013 after taking seventh in the event in the NCAA Division I Women’s Swimming Championships, which took place March 21-23, in two minutes, 7.62 seconds.
Kropp will take her 200 breaststroke with her to the 2013 Phillips 66 National Championships and World Championship Trials, which will take place June 25-29 in Indianapolis, ID.
The Sacred Heart graduate also proved a standout in the classroom, as she was an honorable mention for the Pac-12 Women’s Swimming and Diving All-Academic list.
She took 12th in the 200 individual medley (1:57.15) and 18th in the 100 breast (1:00.28) at the NCAA championship meet.
The Trojans fell short of winning their first Pac-12 title this season when it was edged by Stanford (1,439.5) by 21 points for a runner-up finish. Kropp took fourth in the 200 breast (2:08.68), seventh in the 100 breast (1:00.75) and eighth in the individual medley (1:58.82) in the conference meet, which took place Feb. 27 to March 2.
Catherine Horner (La Cañada High, 2012) Tulsa University softball freshman: The Spartans standout backstop a season ago made an immediate impact in her debut campaign with the Golden Hurricanes and was named to the All-Conference USA All-Freshman team.
On the year, Horner batted .259 (14 for 54) in 29 appearances and 23 starts out of 57 games. She scored eight runs, had five doubles and a one homer for a .407 slugging percentage. She was walked 15 times and struck out five times to also post a .429 on-base percentage.
Horner spent some time at second this season to keep her bat in the lineup. She played in 12 conference games and started eight of those. She batted .320 with a .440 slugging, .452 on-base percentage, six walks, six RBI, three doubles and three runs. She had three multiple-RBI games and four multiple-hit games on the year.
Defensively, she caught three of six would-be base stealers and committed one error in 88 chances for a .989 fielding percentage.
Tulsa (42-16-1, 16-5 in conference) fell in the conference semifinals to Houston, 3-0, on May 10 after opening the tournament with a 3-0 over UCF.
Tulsa, which was ranked No. 24, saw its season end May 18 in a 2-1 loss to Northern Iowa in the NCAA Lincoln Regional Tournament after dropping its opener with Stanford, 4-2.
Horner played second base in both losses. She went one for three and drove in the team’s only run with a single down the left-field line to tie the game at 1 in the bottom of the third inning against Northern Iowa.
Nick Gentili (St. Francis High, 2010) Pomona-Pitzer baseball senior: Gentili ended his collegiate career with another standout campaign for the Sagehens. The former Golden Knight was rewarded with a second consecutive All-West Region second-team selection by D3baseball.com.
Gentili’s batting average (.386) was second highest for Pomona-Pitzer, along with his five home runs. Those numbers also led to him being voted a first-team All-Southern California Intercollegiate Athletic Conference player for the third time.
The Sagehens’ season ended May 16 with an 8-3 loss to Linfield in the NCAA Division III West Regional Tournament. They finished the year with a 29-16 record and took second in the Southern California Intercollegiate Conference with a 20-8 conference mark.
Gentili was three for nine in Pomona-Pitzer’s two-game stint in the NCAA Division III West Regional. He went two for five in a 4-3, 11-inning loss to Texas-Tyler on May 15, and was one for four with an RBI in the Sagehens’ season-ending 8-3 loss the next day.
Shannon Streeter (La Cañada High, 2009) Cal Lutheran water polo senior: An All-Area and All-CIF selection as a Spartan, Streeter left her mark as a Regal.
Streeter finished her senior season with lofty marks of 24 goals (fifth-best on the team), 17 steals and seven assists.
Cal Lutheran went 13-15 on the season with a 7-4 mark in Southern California Interscholastic Athletic Conference play. Streeter played in all 28 games for Cal Lutheran and scored in 25 of them.