A trio of Cerritos College men’s swimmers have qualified for this weekend’s State Swimming Championships at Saddleback College and all will compete in multiple events. Making return appearances to the state championships are sophomores Nikos Kostianis (Downey HS) and Tristan Friend (Liberty Christian HS), while freshman Louie Espinoza (Montebello HS) joins them.

    Kostianis, who won the state championship in the 200-yard butterfly with a school record time of 1:51.48 last year and also placed second in the 100-yard backstroke and third in the 100-yard butterfly, has qualified in three events. Last year, he, along with Friend, also swam on four relay teams that competed in the state championships. But this year, the Falcons did not qualify any of their relay teams. Kostianis once again qualified in all three of those individual events, as he enters as the second seed in the 100-yard backstroke with a time of 51.93. Only Chasen Nick of Diablo Valley College has posted a faster time, with his 51.62. Kostianis is also seeded third in the 100-yard butterfly (50.27) and fourth in the 200-yard butterfly (1:55.88). This past weekend, Kostianis won the South Coast Conference championship in the 100-yard backstroke and 200-yard backstroke for the second year in a row.

    Friend joins Kostianis in the 200-yard butterfly with his time of 1:58.24, which puts him in the seventh spot, while he enters the 500-yard freestyle 19^th with a time of 4:50.59. As for Espinoza, he qualified in the 200-yard IM with a time of 2:00.27, which puts him in the 14^th spot, while his time of 1:00.56 in the 100-yard breaststroke and 2:14.95 in the 200-yard breaststroke were fast enough he enter him 18^th in both events.