Fillmore’s Towne Theatre marquee reflects the community’s congratulations to Katrionna, and she will be waving to the crowd in Saturday’s May Festival Parade.

She was a little girl with big dreams living in the small mountain town of Mammoth Lakes. Fifteen miles down the road, standing alone in the middle of the High Sierra desert, was Whitmore Outdoor Pool, so isolated that directions on their website state "turn left at the green church off U.S. 395". But it was where Katrionna Furness joined her first swim club, the Mammoth Sharks, at the age of 6 years, and where her love of swimming eventually brought her to First Place in the 100 Backstroke at the 2018 California Interscholastic Federation (CIF) Southern Section Division 4 finals, Riverside Aquatics Center, last Friday, May 14th.

"It was pretty cool," Kat, a junior at Fillmore High School (FHS), responded when asked about winning CIFs. "It made all the hard work worth it." It has been 13 years since a Fillmore High swimmer has qualified for CIF finals, and Kat is the first swimmer in Fillmore High's history to be a CIF Champion. She will be riding in Saturday’s May Festival Parade, under the Towne Theatre marquee which reads “Katrionna Furness CIF Champion”.

Kat swam seasonally in the popular resort town, three months a year, where the average snowfall is 200 to 500+ inches. But last August her dream brought her to Fillmore to swim year-round with the Buenaventura Swim Club, at the Ventura Aquatic Center on Kimball Road. She entered the club's Gold group in September and advanced to Senior group in December, under the direction of Senior Coach Jason York.

"Coach York inspired me to push myself and improve my technique. He changed my swimming."

Coach York told the Gazette, “I am very excited for Kat and her future. In just a short time with our team she has dropped a lot of time in a variety of events. She still has all summer and, of course, her senior year to improve even more. I anticipate her to gain valuable experience over the next season and expect her to be even better this time next year.”

The decision to leave her home and family for year-round training was not an easy one for the then-15 year old, or her parents Daniel and Chrissy Furness. Kat left Mammoth High School at the beginning of her junior year. She also left friends she has known since kindergarten, and her brother Ryan and sister Summer, both also competitive swimmers. But the drive she felt to pursue training and opportunity was strong, and she moved in with her grandparents, Fillmore residents Bert and Wanda Castel de Oro, to train year-round.

Kat is aware of the family support that has brought her to this victory. "I'm so thankful that my mom got me into this sport. My mom and dad have supported me in so many ways and made me want to do my best. They have made a lot of sacrifices so that I can be here now."

She joined Fillmore High School's swim team in January, training under coaches Mike and Cindy Blatt. Working with the Blatts and York, Kat dropped 10 seconds from her backstroke, ending with her winning CIF time of 59.68, nearly a second ahead of second-place Catherine Tran of La Quina, who touched in 1:00.66. Kat also took 3rd Place in the CIF 100 Freestyle, with a time of 54.21, 4.5 seconds off since training in Ventura County, and .56 behind second place winner Destiny Lewis of Grand Terrace. When asked about her local training Kat said, "Mike and Cindy [Blatt] always wanted me to do my best and taught me a lot about the groundwork of swimming.” She added with a laugh, “They taught me how to grab the touch pad."

“Kat scored 40 points, placing FHS 21st out of 47 teams scoring points at the Division 4 Championship,” said Cindy. “Coach Mike and I are very proud of Kat. She loves to race and proved to be a fierce competitor. She has inspired her teammates and we look forward to next year."

FHS Principal Tom Ito made the 3-hour drive from Fillmore to the CIF finals and cheered Kat on from the sidelines.
“As a former coach, I can say that athletes such as Katrionna are an exception. She has the focus and determination to achieve in the most trying of situations. She left her family and community with the intent to swim competitively for Fillmore High School. All year she has swam double workouts on a daily basis. At the CIF Finals she had just completed warming up and was ready to swim when the meet was stopped for a ten minute break. After the break, when she and the other athletes were ready to swim, the timing system went down. After a seven minute delay, the race finally started. Through each delay, where other athletes would have lost composure, Katrionna remained calm and focused and had a peak performance when it counted the most,” stated Ito.

Kat qualified for the Junior Olympics at the age of nine, and competed in July 2011 near San Francisco, where she made finals in her 50 Backstroke, the only Mammoth Shark ever to do so. She acquired a time standard beyond Junior Olympic and Far Western Time, placing 8th, despite her limited technique and lack of backstroke flip turn--but she had a champion's heart. She continued to qualify each year for Junior Olympics and consistently took Overall First Place at meets, swimming against year-round swimmers. She competed and qualified for finals at High Country League Championships in Minden, Nevada, King of the Hill meets held in Carson City, and consistently took first place at Swimming at Altitude at Lake Tahoe, where coaches from year-round swim teams would comment about her natural ability in the water, and encourage her to pursue full-time training.

Since moving to Southern California Kat has qualified for Winter Age Group (WAGs) which were held in December 2017 in Huntington Beach. She placed 12th in the prelims with her 50 Freestyle and made it to finals where she finished in 8th Place with a time of 25.84. She also qualified for finals in five events at the Canyon Qualifying Meet in Santa Clarita at the beginning of the year.

Her times since moving to Fillmore have steadily improved: 50 Free-dropping 2.6 seconds ending with a 25:84; 100 Free-4.5 seconds ending with a 55:21 at CIF; 200 Free-6 seconds ending with a 2:05; 500 Free-21 seconds ending with a 5:51.20; 100 Back-10 seconds ending with a 59:68; and 200 Back-10 seconds ending with a 2:19.49.

Kat will be participating in the June Age Group (JAGs) Invitational Swim Meet, June 14-17, hosted by the Buenaventura Swim Club. A GoFundMe account has been set up to help the Champ continue her training dreams https://www.gofundme.com/100-back-d4-champ-needs-help.

The Fillmore Gazette expects to see her at next year’s CIFs! Go Kat!!