Locally: Spokane Velocity FC continue to fill out roster, sign Luis Gil and Romain Metanire
From staff reports
Spokane Velocity FC announced that Luis Gil and Romain Metanire have been signed to the club roster, pending league and federation approval.
Gil brings 14 years of professional experience from Major League Soccer, Mexico, Europe and the U.S. Men’s National Team to Spokane.
The 30-year-old from Southern California played with Real Salt Lake of MLS in 2010 and appeared in the U.S. Open Cup that year. From 2010 to 2015, he scored 12 goals in 157 regular season, MLS Cup Playoff and CONCACAF Champions League appearances.
While at RSL, Gil helped the team advance to the 2011 Champions League final, the 2012 U.S. Open Cup final and the MLS Cup 2012.
He spent the next several years playing international soccer for Queretaro of Liga MX and later with FK Viktoria Zizkov and Taborsko in the Czech Republic.
Gil also has significant experience with the U.S. National Team on the U17, U18, U20 and U23 squads. He played two matches with the U.S. National Men’s Team in 2014.
Metanire, a French defender, has played in World Cup qualifiers and was an MLS all-star in 2019.
Metanire was most recently affiliated with the Belgian club RFC Seraing.
The debut USL League One Season for Velocity begins March 9 with an away game against the Greenville Triumph in South Carolina. The home opener will come March 16 against the Richmond Kickers at ONE Spokane Stadium.
• Scott Halasz is set to join the Washington State women’s soccer coaching staff as an assistant coach.
Halasz, a Washington native, returns after 11 seasons in Salt Lake City with the University of Utah.
Halasz spent the past six seasons as the associate head coach for the Utes. The Utes made the NCAA Tournament in Halasz’s first season, 2013. He then helped them to the best finish in Utah program history during the 2016 season. In 2019, Halasz helped guide Utah in its return to the NCAA Championships, marking his third appearance to the tournament as a member of the Utah staff.
Indoor track and field
The Eastern Washington Track and Field team wrapped up its second meet weekend of the new year Saturday at the Lauren McCluskey Memorial Open hosted by the University of Idaho.
Freshman Owen Higgins highlighted Eastern’s weekend, breaking a 46-year-old Eastern Washington record by running the 600 meters in 1 minute, 20.80 seconds, a full second faster than Dan Butler’s mark (1:21.6) from 1978. The time is rarely challenged as the 600 meters is not often raced in collegiate competitions, but the event is held in the Kibbie Dome each year.
• Lewis-Clark State College’s Madigan Kelly was named the Rize Laboratory Women’s Indoor Track athlete of the week for her performance at Idaho’s Lauren McCluskey Memorial Open.
Kelly, a junior from Lewiston, clocked 8.49 seconds in the 60-meter hurdles to post the third-fastest time in the NAIA this season. The time secured her an “A” standard and bested her previous LCSC record.
Shooting
Spokane Junior Rifle Club Team 1 qualified for the Pardini Junior Air Nationals that will take place later this week in Camp Perry, Ohio.
SJRC Team I qualified 30th out of 33 qualifying teams and 77 teams competed. SJRC Team 1 scored 2,331.4 points out of a possible 2,482.2.
The team consists of Tanner Krebs (606.2 points), Ensley Breeden (598.5), Morgan Christian (567.7), Spencer Fitzpatrick (559), Kaylee Geller (548.1), Cole Frizzel (540.4) and Jack Grief (528.5).