Kostianis Friend Espinoza Zuniga

    A trio of Cerritos College men’s swimmers, along with one relay team, have earned All-American honors in a list that was recently released. Those who finished with one of the top 16 times in each event earned All-American status. Leading the list was sophomore Nikos Kostianis (Downey HS), who earned All-American honors in three events and in the relay race, while both sophomore Tristan Friend (Liberty Christian HS) and freshman Louie Espinoza (Montebello HS) were All-Americans in one event and also swam on the relay race. The fourth member of the relay team was freshman Mark Zuniga (Downey HS).

    As for Kostianis, who concluded his career with state championships in the 100-yard butterfly, 200-yard butterfly and 100-yard backstroke this season, he earned All-American honors in all three events. For his career, Kostianis won four state championships and finished in second place twice. His time of 50.26 in the 100-yard backstroke was the fastest in the country this year, while he placed second in the country in the 100-yard butterfly (48.79) and 200-yard butterfly (1:49.62). He trailed only Gordon Touw Ngie Tjouw of Indian River (FL) Community College in both events, who turned in a time of 47.10 in the 100-yard butterfly and 1:48.52 in the 200-yard butterfly.

    Joining Kostianis on the All-American team in the 200-yard butterfly was Friend, whose time of 1:57.84 was the 14^th fastest in the country this season. Espinoza checked in with the 11^th fastest time in the 200-yard breaststroke at 2:09.50. Friend placed sixth in the state championships in the 200-yard butterfly, with Espinoza coming in 10^th place in the 200-yard breaststroke. The 400-yard freestyle relay team of Espinoza, Friend, Zuniga and Kostianis earned All-American honors with their time of 3:14.95, which was the 16^th fastest time in the country.