Now in his fifth season, Joe Abing led his team to their first South Coast Conference championship for the second time in the last three year last season. He has now led the team to four consecutive winning season, which included a 6-1 conference record in 2007. In addition, the team saw freshman Nikos Kostainis win the state championship in the 200-yard butterfly and qualified in three individual races and four relay races. Last year’s team also set five new school records.

In four years under Abing, the men’s swimming team has compiled a 23-5 conference record, with two championships and a second place finish. During the two years the team won the conference title (2005 and 2007), Abing was voted the South Coast Conference Coach of the Year. In addition to winning the conference championships, the team has had numerous qualifiers for the state championships, including four relay teams and seven individuals last year, as the team came in 12^th place. In addition to the title won by Kostianis last year, Robbie Garcia won two state titles for Cerritos, one in the 200-yard freestyle and in the 500-yard freestyle. In just four seasons, 10 school records have been broken, while nine swimmers and one diver have earned All-American status. Prior to coming to Cerritos College, Abing spent the previous eight years coaching swimming at Ventura High School, and led them to their first league championship in 1997 and 1998, and coached seven All-Americans.

Abing played water polo and competed in swimming at South Pasadena High, where he started on the 1989 CIF Championship water polo team. In his senior year, Abing helped the swim team place second in the CIF championships. While in high school, Abing earned All-League, All-CIF and was named to the San Gabriel Valley All-Star Team. He moved on to Cuesta College, where he played water polo and swam for Terry Bowen, who is an alumnus of Cerritos College. Abing would eventually graduate from UCLA, where he earned a Bachelor’s degree in Sociology in 1995. In 2002, he graduated from Azusa Pacific University with a Master’s in Physical Education. In addition to his duties with the men’s aquatics program, Abing also teaches a full load of physical education classes.