JFIFC    $ &%# #"(-90(*6+"#2D26;=@@@&0FKE>J9?@=C  =)#)==================================================" }!1AQa"q2#BR$3br %&'()*456789:CDEFGHIJSTUVWXYZcdefghijstuvwxyz w!1AQaq"2B #3Rbr $4%&'()*56789:CDEFGHIJSTUVWXYZcdefghijstuvwxyz ? _cV!.LU:<+$֔ʮT`pbn*眜wXZ34'f8ǐށ ݎ޴T%ƙ#[5.|rkPcv957'Vlrxi( .cNFi7tZڇ Sk$zn!N:}֢ iDji^c~Us> 49{{MFv\Vjd;֭԰D5Qؙnt:Vu 6Z1Ij/im$ʹS[S]:[@tֻkSzkɫ#;H[ >孷cuEqֺOS~h\Ӄ Q{χVw@sY1d|W]*,:+8#ϭ`Hit4?:m5nKuM8+\=f3zO<,ZD\ #vq=X9T\tkZu46rCwB{r9ޝ (5vcHK=Iy?_,2 3/ޭYjy-E!,aڙgZ n4YO<#uU{Ij3nl#ՠYP&9H`xS!'4ksgq_&yA ;㯸)1iuw8 ;՝gHYm4Uchp,smNZIex;Rxf0+Ӑq+/Ěs떹O`zW] u3p=x[Tͥx&h9 ChiUo<+f,X %9p};𭃣G$#g 5_-aS"9VҊ{G3C]&x\sLoe)KaٗDM[4)3k=+5tkȣc#J}'[MZذ[va\E՜Ta+%_~J<ڎcsKq$.#n:湉{Aqg\29 / \yy?2E *Rk[kcfyM p u}kCDKg|$uX U6ђJ6hd.*@@YHX,JYdPZb͍푊Ԓk u [[)QqqZ Yn0}] ỉW󬱌|0 ~'қM"ʧ.s`,5 %DY[nkSD. u-FV\{< @d9#IԷ~-  T}}5JZSwSHdU"1Zr3z3+gtL_*_co;=zvGJƲ3\W}.+Y}{95b[؄03{T4`1,3MnEjauP|Š.hOz<=`k_һ/L*{%71ӯXEjkuǥYugu-2aXS IU-fb+ƵȼV~nȫ)މH/#̪p>P+} {f+$[Z/nU$c5s 7 y<.&˿izۙC1r g;?HwaZlA=h=|O*@+*W#nqΫn|r*@E"W1m\&k.Qa>j"Mgye+DX$j87**OGX72laCReЩzCVxOD.%IJfz#B@ĝ?)0ٛZ$׊Ƴ6Ӈ;%?1⣢w:־[A "D(ʇMnx^TgY7PySilɨDTsob V:XRj_rJī`۾1^= 8VGpݯ6ޜ AbܞM14Zڶ4$RG!LJLs$l5kXbwYӮQJF+g8rRQٝ̐0nӮP:)]Zu?;ȟgs%NjIu2GO#9cKJ(XL:~GNN;k/MInخ;HsZuq-5Q%,o:H_;e̐gth]$y7W)Qޣo-Γ<)`_1MP۔oMU_-0Җ̺WV9^_ "UI9#\D~Ib O=߇okt 3gW{."|jjՎ: ȩaT_q]l2tvBJ#QQH GMN˓CEu7LpyZ3 /6qlyN;VbN?4 0W9WY0NqA,ʹϜsRٶ2=*#=EbK[gS >q q@tr@S9'UѼĒ^㨮J/r: dnОz+R-%w6."Cf9kR񎑦X- $+Swtٕ/Ua#onl76d` bx6Y tҟHQZ:|V)ͷ|$ ړ#6dz>K&٭mvIrʻϵd^ 7ۋk@T<5I̩fvt煩o2CtwOnE mKM)DEyNDn9f9&NPuV'88Nmݫ>;-9>7C8p346&z]GLUMfpL aI A5S*γJp&qұ>!ti@^' jܬcP8T[#VM42+@CF? T)<5MnӤSy[/ñ_"ȎWO64Ulʕ' æ(Xtҹ$+ KFQp fu<tv8ҾaZh;UiylV,"՗WT8AᛌFn1Weޜ:~ɱM+B{JCG3V6?*_Ҏft:ʞ|3wܞRGӣ9I(6T?31E$ . '5 gMvG/J?\p1^si#7KGsx|)I=B^H)x+;.kf[vf}d"~`> k4{V[~5R5V=f. ]v>N aVW9&QPɱ 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 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 i