Alina Kendzior

Class:
Senior
Position:
IM/Backstroke
High School:
Moscomsport
Hometown:
Moscow, Russia

Senior: Kendzior put together her best NCAA Championships performance as a senior, earning Honorable Mention All-American honors in the 100 back for the second consecutive season with a 13th place finish in a time of 51.72. Kendzior also broke her own school record in the 100 back on the lead-off leg of the Cards’ fifth place 400 medley relay team with a time of 51.71. Additionally, she shattered her own 50 back record (23.96) to help the Cards take fifth overall in the 200 medley relay. At the ACC Championships, Kendzior finished fifth in the 200 IM with a personal best time of 1:57.56 and also added a ninth place finish in the 100 back (53.43) and 13th place finish in the 200 back (1:54.89) for 59 individual points. At ACCs, she also earned a silver medal as a member of the Cards’ 400 medley relay team. Kendzior finished in the top-eight in each of her individual events at the IU Invitational, highlighted by a third place finish in the 100 back with a time of 53.07. She was instrumental to the Cards’ win at the SMU Classic with a second place in the 100 back and third place in the 200 back. In the dual meet season, she swept the backstroke events on three separate occasions, including the meets against Indiana, Missouri and Xavier. For her efforts in the classroom, Kendzior was named to the All-ACC Academic Team.

Junior: Kendzior handled backstroke duties for the Cardinals throughout her junior season, helping Louisville to a fourth place finish and record-breaking performance in the 400 medley relay (3:26.93) and a fifth place finish in the 200 medley relay at the NCAA Championships. She also broke her own school record in the 100 back at NCAAs in a time of 51.76 and finished 12th overall. At the ACC Championships, Kendzior recorded two top-eight finishes, placing fourth in the 100 back (52.48) and eighth in the 200 IM (1:58.17). She also scored points in the 200 back with a 12th place finish and was a member of the gold-medal winning 400 medley relay team. At the Winter National Championships, she registered top-eight finishes in both the 100 and 200 back. She also competed at the TYR Pro Swim Series in Columbus, taking fifth in the 200-meter back (2:14.29) and sixth in the 100-meter back (1:02.21). In the dual meet season, Kendzior tallied a number of second and third place finishes in the backstroke events to score major points for the Cardinals. For her performances both in the pool and in the classroom, Kendzior was named to the All-ACC Academic Team and was awarded CSCAA Scholar All-America honors.

Sophomore: Kendzior once again proved to be a vital asset for the Cardinals’ backstroke contingent, swimming the lead-off leg in the medley relays for the second straight year. At the NCAA Championships, she contributed a 52.06 split in the 400 medley relay for a fourth place finish and helped the Cardinals to a tenth place finish with her 24.46 split in the 200 medley relay, breaking school records in both the 50 and 100 backstroke in the process. Individually, she placed 28th in the 200 back (1:53.64). At the ACC Championships, Kendzior’s backstroke prowess boosted the medley relay squads to second place finishes in both the 200 and 400 distances. She also finished in the top-eight in all of her individual events, swimming to a fifth place finish in the 200 IM (1:58.27), seventh in the 100 back (52.66), and seventh in the 200 back (1:54.71). Kenzior also competed in both the Mesa and Atlanta Arena Pro Swim Series meets, registering a ninth place finish in the 200-meter back (2:17.52) and an 11th in the 100-meter back (1:03.22) in Mesa. In Atlanta, she stopped the clock in a season-best 2:15.13 in the 200-meter back. At the UofL Invitational, Kendzior scored an impressive 92 points for the Cardinals. She touched first in both the 100 back (52.63) and 200 back (1:53.61), while also recording a second place finish in the 200 IM (2:00.08). En route to her 200 back victory at the UofL Invitational, she also surpassed the previous school record. In the dual meets, she provided valuable points in the backstroke events, highlighted by second place finishes in both backstroke distances, as well as providing the lead-off leg in the victorious 200 medley relay against Notre Dame.

Freshman: In her freshman season with Louisville, Kendzior provided the lead-off leg for their medley relays and handled backstroke duties. At the ACCs, the Cardinals, with Kendzior’s help, finished in runner-up position in the 400 medley relay with a 3:28.32 including her split of 53.22. She won gold in the 200 medley relay with a 24.78 split as the Cards went 1:35.43. Individually, Kendzior won the B-final of the 200-IM with a 1:57.71 and won the B-final of the 100 back with a time of 53.01. She made the A-final in the 200 back and finished eighth with a 1:56.25. At NCAAs, she was on the silver medal 400-medley relay team that went 3:27.58 with a split of 52.71. She also helped the 200 medley relay team to a bronze medal with a leadoff leg of 24.47 as the Cards went 1:35.36. Kendzior touched t-36th in the 100 back and 34th in the 200 back. At the 2016 Estonian National Championships in Tallinn, Kendzior swam a time of 1:01.98, marking herself as the first Estonian to go under 1:02 in this event .Kendzior swam a 1:02.75 for 29th overall in this event at the 2016 European Championships, then swam a 1:02.26 in the B- final of the 100 back at the Indianapolis stop of the Arena Pro Swim Series. Her 1:02.26 from Indy was the old national record– she broke it in prelims at that meet with a 1:02.33 and then reset it in finals. Also at the Arena Pro Series in Mesa, she was a finalist in the 100-meter back (24th, 1:05.36) and was 18th with a 2:19.93 in the 200-meter back. At the Speedo Championships in Nashville, she was first in the 100-meter back with a 1:02.71 and was second in the 200 IM, going 2:22.09. At the European Championships, she was part of the 8th place 4x100 free relay and 26th in the 50-meter back, 23rd in the 200-meter back and 29th in the 100-meter back. She earned All-ACC honors.

Prep: Alina Kendzior comes to Louisville from Russia where she swam for Coach Mikhail Akimov. She swam in the 2014 World Cup in Moscow, where she had a third place in a relay and set a personal best in the 100 backstroke. She swam at the 2013 European Junior Championship in Poznan, Poland where is helped the 4x200-meter free relay to a first place finish. Her club finished in third place in the Russian Open Championship. Her fastest times are 2:12.24 in the 200 IM, 55.64 in the 100-back, 4:41.6 in the 400-IM and 2:10.7 in the 200-back.

Personal: Daughter of Irina and Nikolai Kendzior. Born April 27, 1998. Major is sports administration .