JFIFC    $ &%# #"(-90(*6+"#2D26;=@@@&0FKE>J9?@=C  =)#)==================================================" }!1AQa"q2#BR$3br %&'()*456789:CDEFGHIJSTUVWXYZcdefghijstuvwxyz w!1AQaq"2B #3Rbr $4%&'()*56789:CDEFGHIJSTUVWXYZcdefghijstuvwxyz ?_ j8le;+ }2y$dvvn&$ךKw)bKFv{Vw)QW<;Y櫤[-g 杢EgW:,RDaCgJ4͸xd#֞x{6xIL36N^? ni숴 IuH4$#orZBr۲< V6W݌{?!Me-PWwkm%Ev;a%A8$v97fL#:1ᨑ?he80hwijk\Zoq8 ql1\MWOX̳GuЎ՜S~BjK[#7k! K\rY ُz[;cBJK0PNxf0onV`Wi94쑛lᇏ"qKa$ v;cTE Ӵ I:=J$c޹SOQxwNK{i0?Zw|\0M o^yc Dli.ǝY\GX٥rˌ1ǽq[L]nxr'GYG%d ,uǩv7i"T`9qңՕt rq[ܴ ,rKO8cYg QKKK6#"J:g޴ŠY:܌?rF:&zzq#ڛԌaZIY~377> c`@@ՎH,*O#w͒?sKsoaʲXH|'jh6,G ad 3֢qa'wvg7 Ky)\t\Zږ `y8^:=6p i.>}֦7䰥8TuZ̀)f0'5[iͬ^ 0䅔aFvc`5%ZD,o -}4Og#fj<;iybA5QlNMk鬇DJ@'l%Cl"Fk~ĶVk4V4 9V!!Q:*+Utcs4:Sd1p *+ [1#il6|Z01X㸑+=stsɦΟ 2da^k.̈K` Lz1PjzLZI<YkLU 뎙Deb1+y$~?z}紓FEXlI+X*ذr텯FQ]U9=V7fkp{y$t# ~\mO/Gc)]7UƲ woԧ$dc\jZ\݃.?Jud o$pcs+&[?xn<յm,m>Qz$Y-ϧ\gָGNIfeݻ .{{,F7[s˓6>UZypd,ڞ֔SJRqs u1O=@pG9TWh~tz5~3{4/<#tnzzqEp:5+|yw GunJ-= 5|*@JDl0c+lqN>ݻ5ëg9Bw6Ŵ1+21M 9Iq֜P{fڨ.@#Ykd&Ai,!}9 _gG,%G Uh/Xqc]&uIy(NQqM;pUee$ר,I#J-i5ޣi^[c94W[FX 1y&,=R$du 85Aҹ$z#KPxfiI˶CFwRVm)PC\H8ٛk6z5$gjm.i p01TpE >Q-W\—䰸<qazE " $m+hH[`3n1oq:2 :݈Q8U2Q y-p%7 |W$gӃװY:zH7xGãy=Vn]C{z0@CW=j1*Hv?CX#ʼ0}ET;zbk:T!e+X+Hm 6iNQ@j61,1m1ϯQָS^gY7o•gw)N֑rS;Ef#ㅤPF7>Lj7x_ߒ*Շd#EBY?udy Hӊ+(-WP>)\#w+eݶkKúQ0#5#L5H 6[٢+e$'oj9d2P IO܀< d޴VFIՈ"'{u\@ԛ7Kc{})2Y(aim\;=j柧I]D~iXQI/$'{B5C"D `kl"2BFwBI8Dp7ִ2t9\$|2p: ^$+&w.F ۗ zIUO3h1$`TZƱ$0lI<3tO<)EKR*SL/IF>+"ncGjSjZ]_?&?v<#v,ORk*Rޛ兺(ɧ޲ >Q OZ)Aɢ\ZF՚e ]{jmkۈF.RXc\qo<JRt McwNա H|k[vߡ*<1#Y,h>g>=6堹̬0i)&+ M葠ҼGM"Q!ҮneS`fu1.u[ٻmȸR{c=j>=H'%}Mt"@I0VRqoƼ$dӳˤj;cwu96Kc B:갡Vx839һc&Z-@LIvIAQq O]@JKcj"H*KzXlrmv~r>Q=jyqZ$[#61i16?O&9*#S_`~udKZ+NZs#BG 29‚GHer 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. Ran