Breaststroke

GLENDALE — The 2010 Speedo Junior National Swimming Championships are in the books, and so are some highlight performances from Young Tae Seo and Andrea Kropp. And, while the recent Flintridge Sacred Heart Academy graduate Kropp faded a bit in the final days of the meet from her monumental start, Seo, who is coming off a stellar freshman season at Crescenta Valley High, seemed to peak on Friday. Seo, representing Swim Pasadena, capped off the five-day meet at William Woollett Aquatic Center in Irvine with his best finish of the week, placing fourth in the championship-final heat of the 200-meter individual medley in 2 minutes 06.04 seconds.

LONG BEACH — All’s well that ends well, and Andrea Kropp made sure to go out on top in her final CIF championship meet. After finishing third with her best time of the season, 2 minutes .43 seconds, in the 200-yard individual medley at Friday’s CIF Southern Section Division I swimming and diving championships at Belmont Plaza pool in Long Beach, the Flintridge Sacred Heart Academy senior came back to capture the title in the...

GLENDALE — With over two weeks of spring break ahead, the Flintridge Sacred Heart Academy swimming team will get some well-deserved rest before resuming its Mission League schedule. A fast-paced agenda to begin the first half of the season wrapped up on Saturday with a ninth-place team showing in the 38th Annual Mission Viejo High School Invitational at Marguerite Sports Complex in Mission Viejo, one of the fastest meets in Southern California. In addition to the strong team finish, the Tologs also turned in several of their season-best times, including two automatic All-American marks for senior Andrea Kropp.

CRESCENTA VALLEY COACH: Jan Sakonju, 10th year. LEAGUE: Pacific. SWIMMERS TO WATCH: Andrew De Jong, junior, freestyle/individual medley; Jason Kim, senior, breaststroke/backstroke; Chris Veselich, senior, freestyle; Daniel Olson, senior, freestyle; Josh Chi, junior, freestyle/individual medley; Ho Jean Yoon, junior, breaststroke; Harrison Thai, freshman, utility; Young Tae Seo, freshman, individual medley. SAKONJU?S QUOTE: ?Everyone?s enthusiastic and looking forward to competing.

SOUTHEAST GLENDALE — There was no conclusion to the 400-yard freestyle relay, but in the end, it really didn’t matter. Heading into the final event, the Glendale High swimming teams were both comfortably ahead of visiting Flintridge Prep, with the girls up, 94-59, and the boys’ ahead, 86-69, margins that held up as final scores when both 400 freestyle relays were stopped in progress due to a loose lane-line bracket. “[The official] was going to have to redo [the 400 freestyle relay]

GLENDALE — The 2008 high school swimming season ended only recently, but for Flintridge Sacred Heart Academy sophomore Andrea Kropp and Crescenta Valley High junior Yumi So, the heart of their season is just getting started. The three-day Speedo Grand Challenge, which kicked off Friday at the Woolett Aquatics Center in Irvine, is one of the early stops on a schedule of high-profile, elite national meets, including the Olympic trials June 29-31 in Omaha, that the two will attend with Swim Pasadena as part of a busy summer ahead.

BURBANK ? Coming into Thursday?s Pacific League swimming finals at Burbank High, the Crescenta Valley High girls? swimming team had little to gain, having already clinched at least a share of the league crown by winning the league dual-meet championship on April 23. The opposite could be said for the Falcons boys? team, which entered the final league meet needing, for the third year in a row, a win to force a share of the league title. Led by three relay victories and individual depth, Crescenta Valley?

GLENDALE — The following are odds and ends from the local sports scene .   HIRSH MAKES MOUND RETURN St. Francis High graduate and current Colorado Rockies starting pitcher Jason Hirsh pitched two scoreles innings, allowing two hits on Saturday in spring training action against the Milwaukee Brewers. Consequently, it was against the Brewers that Hirsh’s season ended on Aug. 7 when he was hit by a line drive from JJ Hardy . “I went back and looked at all the video — there wasn’t much — and I felt my fastball could be a little bit lower, about four inches,” Hirsh told mlb.com about his performance.