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Girl athlete of the week: Luisa McInnis, Montgomery sophomore, track & field By Eric Branch Published: Tuesday, April 21, 2009 Luisa McInnis was introduced to the high jump as an eighth grader at Herbert Slater Middle School. Actually, McInnis introduced herself. “We didn’t have a jump coach so I had to coach myself,” McInnis said. “There were so many bad habits I had to break when I got to high school.” Two years later, McInnis, a sophomore at Montgomery High, appears to have kicked her old habits quite nicely. McInnis leapt 5 feet, 4 inches to finish second at the Woody Wilson Invitational in Davis last week and just missed matching a 31-year-old school record when she narrowly clipped the bar at 5-6. The 5-foot-10 McInnis, who doubles as a standout volleyball player, has cleared an Empire-best 5-5 this year, which puts her in exclusive company. Only 11 girls in Empire history have jumped 5-5 and just six have hit 5-6. “There are a still a few mechanical things to work on,” Montgomery co-head coach Alan Bursch said. “But she has a lot of leap. She has a lot of power at the bar.” And she still has yet to fully devote herself to the sport. McInnis is currently playing with Empire Volleyball, a club team that plays from December through June. McInnis practices with Empire three times a week. This season, she missed the Stanford Invitational and she will miss the Viking Invitational to play in volleyball tournaments. McInnis says the high jump doesn’t play second fiddle to volleyball, however. She says she actually prefers the high jump because it is an individualized sport. A sport that is filled with endless challenges. “It sounds easy,” McInnis said. “But the high jump is so much harder than people think it is.”
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