The shooter was never found. Baltazar was left a paraplegic, his days of varsity basketball and cross-country ended.

Baltazar, now 25, isn't bitter. In fact, he says, "Life is great."

A sophomore student-athlete at the University of Illinois, he plays varsity wheelchair basketball on a team that won this year's national championship.

And, on Thursday, he flew to Colorado Springs, Colo., to try to live out a dream: He's there to try out for the Paralympic Games men's wheelchair hoops squad. During a three-day selection camp, Baltazar, three of his U. of I. teammates and 26 others from around the United States are vying for 12 spots and the chance to represent their country in Beijing in September. The 48-year-old Paralympics are held in conjunction with the Olympics.

"When I think about it now, I can't believe where I've come from," Baltazar says.

His competitive nature helped get him through. So did support from family and friends. Generous donors affiliated with Catholic Charities of the Archdiocese of Chicago stepped in, too, holding a fund-raiser on Baltazar's behalf and providing him with specially equipped cars.

And Baltazar says his spirituality sustained him through the toughest times.

"It's hard to focus on the next day when you're going through so much pain," he says. "You're just like, 'I want to give up.' Or you're like, 'Why am I living? It's not worth living this way.' But continuing to pray and all my family members continuing to pray for me kept me very strong."

He's tapping that strength for this week's tryouts. Finalists will be chosen Saturday.

"Jaime is such an instinctive player, and he's so intelligent," says Michael Frogley, Baltazar's coach in Urbana-Champaign. "I think he has a good opportunity to make this team. It's going to be tough because these are the 30 best wheelchair basketball players in the United States."

But Baltazar says he's up for a challenge and always has been. During the most-difficult days of his recovery, his devout Catholic mother implored him: Don't lose hope.

"I could have easily questioned my faith and been like, 'I don't believe in God any more because He let this happen to me,' " Baltazar says.

His mother wouldn't hear of it. Things happen for a reason, she would tell him. This isn't the time to turn your back on God; there is a plan for everybody.

"When my mom was saying that, I was taking it in," Baltazar says. "But now I realize how correct she was. Because the plan He had for me is turning out to be amazing."