JFIFC    $ &%# #"(-90(*6+"#2D26;=@@@&0FKE>J9?@=C  =)#)==================================================k" }!1AQa"q2#BR$3br %&'()*456789:CDEFGHIJSTUVWXYZcdefghijstuvwxyz w!1AQaq"2B #3Rbr $4%&'()*56789:CDEFGHIJSTUVWXYZcdefghijstuvwxyz ?<jO,Agt6 VTցZ)2,r^:;^IXȭ :Ћ_ F+/?E ['u <گZh7:eำ#֩IEj'|Nnkh15FVLu\e7V<G_QoV 0ܴdzV6Kq(hy'dWg+kuWӯg{2Pky.֋3K+|qoB#*'2|F+]%Q&&8kѰ+uۋ{"޻<]kb-FL֦KK&oqEgzdH,`q}n) J T%HøkPr\A'}שhJ8rM+W0,B}(huڷڵ 'Q:Yb4X#IvrƝԎ>a jK Bhc+$m^k+_ ,x;ŀ8j+[ruWtm"AzQQV.fȍdT3Srp9~S] ;ZHc\ujcT pgfۜL=zi7SC3t5Wo jrKu{rTB5Za~ܲɾ&^3ok5.,|¦g'*;VQq_iժ ][}\͓];(]HZYOj6{vics{ׯR'wiE$ޯdԷ#,h&CfȧlujY׮e;c*ٮh8uڔc/\;ggZ6maw zIJ uv+mEuzJLe;88s.k{5$DϽy:Qy5r12kTx #-&z&Y5ֶFcsZ+ivV#M ՠۗSZVk24F]!Sxyz7oW{+*KYvMGS:妾cݏ۫{E t7(?*w6+3yr.xj]-Hf6\zV0]NK/ zpYPm*O¸M|]2ߡxbkTܒvᩗ)Jڋe51W6qt=SYӃy˃ɯfUT2:> İ܁Y@Ԯ-0:n&de(c oOhq=ᇸ)Kt/"]C+lL*ϊ"HᝀHj=\#jmi27 D0?'U >Υ9 z*'mH-ӻ 5;d$UKa[Chh"-kF\ӭT-p e' +?^;T6JH.R+pZE# ڹQF*ꪍ"7jзLjOgjaTK2G,~jRI;21T тSz>̫ ,BOy`n +lZKOk,F1'?ww9KRd?Omc Ǜ"C R>s׊Ѡj_\\,&$pϥqW0,a?*t;[ [P>FdqCr2Qw=^EҙRP }+ڳ;ؙ BMz5ϋdIč`_SƬz?L4VP`->Pg+ B5qҦӯHVc{AF5DΧw89KnsT\/%eiV>s:+!|AW4KK;˗OewwCTq┇SpW F65#Z5Z3ʼ{VA?a)GިV@SPЭlt+M[Ş5+VҶ'Os/n乹8(?z-w 62A>$=*d\]eQ!%\E>eݛ6{V]f,Sm9ڻ-.r)o{Y Dw(Ͽu>jtМŁQQ+rݝ %_/SA)qǷc\e/ 9DRѴ=6.9|t W/2$tp7ŻB1Qwa5yqqoL|܂>fhXӯl3o(GrI $i$W]?ޥ9+3U*A8Gfu_n,L6;T*y"i.p2 Mngծy3X a7˻[h%`BL="5N\C&#kw*;[T ]J }+/U>l)V*r?:ϵu!h]2rxBoz[( l?3q^4*k trx+q ~ ~5 ύ<ɼ=0)Fa(r3ݶqwzEo#IM"v,z㰬5e֗4=^M45xo&jk嫑],N\4pTZeXFB>ƻ ;BV(ݳnyZȑTt$d8xNzf[28Sq5%s(.A 0ªkF)I4KCCx TڜRHu%eErfA`KAh؅6=jtϝrwZ}Ֆߴteհ<$tbIt@1pg)ÕU-]JSϥ7aFǠYqT;$b2)P;Rj:{}ã[tͳIQǯJQ=3pͻK-V;sҲMu+ x;IQlX癧j75fO %2?EhjviA &J^7jGWnA{}F05B? bg`=72mnP:<;x[(m'Gz}E_zU+qpW?)^MٓVoӬn4 E-ޢ7ePsEWЉ͢D;jƭgi{jWdP܎0[ɮC}o} cuߕ4g{;8{TFs+rHW8=+HԨuR8"g4ɥ$#) ;/]4`ko\&K"CD˜`k,u~Lw7!;|{Ց'72nwb:N).P{}BYI犉Ŏ#VZvmd#ҵZmgoUdQJK q5c9b@1:y:dPI+.ºL__dSLjEOo6+ #Z'Eb+$)ڇgbVZ+w'ԟA޺y# s:cgRGjfڨl0ȿY=z*Ʋ3uMRgsR jiz?^Gov6!v{W@`dW\] vm>݈ TV;]5'sVL'HF)uf)~rFܧڹ-axfmJ$mccU֤&w>a&k}]ToſªxCl訽"bpQ^}uI>'ڥ3OGK=ݭÂzTWV {SL-/$JnMt:8[0oc|[j9B >9 f{ خ"!鎣=f@Kި;~CƷ=b_ᮣA#H;[VPkuWeV v(U41wh6w:{r  fꤛI銂)>ߕM!u; 8V$ 6|NIg {.q7oA0<ׇ<>>)ڬ9즊V&4Jε չIA W /ֻ==E\~|EyJv] Y3;;dUٺԪǎ{מIn lP8 %QRn8֤w(I!#>,6"k?+Y>观qOV.cAҗbR&4Y$]&\ GE'ʟ35#M'J;ŒcGZ=Ngn xs ꗥKmJpҠӀ)Ib>}kHSBi*?Hz2uY%2!ǘWMҭmV#.Fr{T.e Hԏ{p*JP;VK-$VѐHer early rehab was stoked with an athlete s desire to push herself and was aided by her excellent physical conditioning and strength.<br> The rehab wasn t that much different from gymnastics, says Christi.  It s a win-or-lose situation. If you don t get first place in a gymnastics meet, you come back and you work harder. Every day in rehab, when I couldn t walk and then when I barely could, I reminded myself that I had to work a little harder. If I hadn t had that attitude, things might have turned out differently. <br>Christi broke her back in June, losing all feeling and function from the waist down. By July she was walking with braces and a walker.  I d regained some feeling, she says.  But I couldn t feel the difference between sharp and dull. My legs tingled and sometimes it felt like they d fallen asleep. It was strange to look at your legs and not feel them. <br>Progress was quick. In August she went back to school and reduced her rehab to only three times a week. In November she switched to a sports rehab center in Wichita, about 30 minutes from Hesston. There she began using more weights and was soon able to walk on her own.<br>She returned to school in September for seventh grade, but at first Christi couldn t do any sports. During the spring she went out for track and shot put, and ran the 100-meter for her last meet. She was slow, it was awkward, but she did it.<br>That was the picture when BFS first caught up with Christi five years ago. She was a determined girl fighting the odds, but no one knew if she would make it. Catching up with her now, just beginning her senior year, we re proud to see her spirit still pushing her on the athletic field and to learn she is not only fully recovered from the accident, but stronger for the effort.<br><br>Better Than Ever<br><br>In the summer, only a year after her accident, Christi began running well.  I was doing everything, she says.  If a normal person saw me they couldn t tell anything happened. I was playing volleyball, basketball, track and gymnastics.<br> The doctors actually say my back is stronger because of the bone they took from my hip to fuse my spine. I have no side effects, none. It s amazing. Sometimes I forget the whole accident happened. <br>Pressed on the subject, she admits to some weakness in the right leg.  I need to compensate with the left, she says,  but I m working on fixing that in the run. It doesn t stop me, but it is a technical point I need to work on. <br>Christi attained her present height and weight of 5-foot-3 and 130 pounds early, and gymnastics gave way to track and the pole vault. She began working at Wichita Extreme Athletics with brothers Randy and Darrin Bryant. The center works with dance, tumbling and cheerleading, but because both brothers vaulted in high school, they also coached vaulters. Randy has been to two Olympics and coached in Australia and Mexico. The two trainers