JFIFC    $ &%# #"(-90(*6+"#2D26;=@@@&0FKE>J9?@=C  =)#)==================================================u" }!1AQa"q2#BR$3br %&'()*456789:CDEFGHIJSTUVWXYZcdefghijstuvwxyz w!1AQaq"2B #3Rbr $4%&'()*56789:CDEFGHIJSTUVWXYZcdefghijstuvwxyz ?2h % $wǽoh*,~erzW#6˝F1$kGډeUМW1h$ݍs )cԁR͜gmD 9[jHdR`O=>ZV`gi /ᚮP&gzil0l! j1D=LUj&dRڈ34tC%\N ՞=ގTRk8 _.l񞝪`b5S#b̧qk8[y9MVP b5y9WK r4R5x-5֤Ė "0޷*ɌROaTໂV\6 \ڮG{Dkdw`?ut&5`_{W g›)7 ݺuZߠo4W<({Ҡk=H[濜sWIj@d<~yt8a w2ӳFyj͒ޮ-A7JԒ\Eidf#E;+*E #Bi.ecK,[Pľ{V^iQ^]FCm'O , ݎoziV;#%㹯?֯ qY$w\>xVKж+=` |Ke-I YT$nޤl6E2O), zw8mz:?)RňuV$ۭcIsW ov:)Px4Uzľ\w(CS?ɭ]UC*ȮwUPKrKۗ>q 9 Aw zH]bnxĚ:-2:G)]5S+9>Tnk~Uٹtd@C\_ <=dsUܬRT.n]?skOH lڀ^Hv]eo_u@\!vJg-Hs- qo9i2 (s5m F˄U>^ ҹUof ޡ\W\XJW3%deeyK)`Hϯ-{,uN@ޒdm8;p{WB͎ʋQ|-R309k{czx#$p~q^OK> -VE$#wRxaspgtFy+67Ú"Xk=7D`jj4V'$un7za:y3$`Úcë؋ ŶFq V).u4Qq]+Ė\\ \*:כ(k!K8fxJxPcӿsW2e _t[y8ggx(-LIe]<$v(<}V;60ߞZ89-;#;KuW/1XϖclpUqҪifշ1$rq5cT)"JℹNSG`mFIgTیukR #KoZiGo|o£uϴ[!"Hp\ZTتڻ#נ-fIe;Buy'x-!Lgz.samBL$R6&rpO@qDcP\foFw褱fA`"rȧC[-$IXuX͵®#1>_QGGqZ4Z]B o%\[" L4D$npGTt{%@p Z?Qq<$gt,2EE=e'48}>X8+ԡ6wox@f2;+&CW쮑1GUaZGTe72c*/@X 5l6T)Z'"EVu G%>U5v)%HQ08r7=J<Up+XM%\J8 ;S?Fu>5/k=es3qz,q`#,0q̖#ۯCms)F}+.GЧݚ_P5FC?#5{D̷}8zn/.d rZX|'pqqdt#"JJ LΕh9" fJ\J [ (nU{ֲK! GOִ|3~*֔' qpU,kr sFјz¨ %$]^GX*ˬNw1hՀ¹bդXwi`~aTV6סG&-<8씞+Ej`ɣ,ms4䑆>zVV hٴRG@u>KRbJCM?(et&1NkS:{ -s+R%rkExkiҰJ vgQ$6 ry!QUrNS *+̆BvpWI<>v}Ƨ̆[y@;LB7'ʡxt%GJ+#$z(L!0c1[ҳhZI"fWR9zTl$]k$} t59%9c(l0jM_N6r ߶bTcFAȤk o{jrݵe-Ќפh-eEfN~MzRu/J5R;9TMj SL &ˊIESq,;1*9br2s/t٭W{4cZK]Q-ńhclJͽ䁎Y'jÆkr]IǭY*16Ь;I&,ܒW*cDm.ٕB\-wId,Z6p=hM=7Tg$iQECɥ T?h (m8({E&ݣPJiQE͢")c4(*.yPx)ݒad fractured her L2 vertebra and dislocated her L3. Doctors were  cautiously optimistic that she would walk again. A week after doctors affixed a temporary rod-and-screw assembly to Christi s spine, she was moved to Our Lady of Lourdes Rehabilitation Hospital. Her gymnastics coach Joanne Thaw was at her bedside.<br> I knew if anyone was going to make it back from this, it would be Christi, says Joanne.  I don t train kids for the Olympics here. I train them for strength, for conditioning, for flexibility to compete. For Christi, I think some of those benefits she got here--the upper body strength, her competitiveness and her ability to focus--helped her to recover. <br>Her 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 yea