![Watching a small group scrimmage, Ben Lundt, St. Louis City SC goalkeeper and founder of Lundt Pro Soccer Training, shouts words of encouragement to players on Sunday, April 26 n the Lafayette grass soccer field. “The idea behind [the event] was to bring the professional soccer players closer to the community because usually people only get to see us on TV or in the stadium. [Families] actually having the opportunity to have their kids on the field with us is the most important aspect,” Ben Lundt said.](https://lancerfeed.press/wp-content/uploads/2026/05/IMG_6823-1200x800.jpg)
![In celebration of winning his second straight state title in the 215 weight class, junior Carter Brown backflips before leaving the mat. Brown won his bout against junior Kobe Rhymes of North Kansas City High School by fall in just 41 seconds. "Carter does what Carter does. We expect [success] out of him and his goals are bigger than the state championship," coach Sam Ritchie said.](https://lancerfeed.press/wp-content/uploads/2026/03/IMG_2784-1200x800.jpg)
Senior Alex McDaris paints Vans brand shoes as a hobby. She’s painted a few pairs for herself and has painted many pairs for friends.
McDaris said, “I’ve probably painted 10-15 pairs, at least.”
McDaris said the inspiration came at a museum. “I’d seen a book in an art museum that had painted shoes in it. So I decided for one of my friend’s birthdays, I made her a pair of Fall Out Boys ones. And they turned out really well so from there I just made myself a pair and my sister a pair and then people started asking,” she said.
She said her inspiration for the art “most of the time it’s from CD covers. I’ve done a lot of CD covers. Like pretty much whatever they [the person who owns the Vans] ask for.”
On average, McDaris said the it takes her, “probably three days-like 72 hours spread out over a while,” to complete one pair of shoes.
She described her favorite pair of shoes. She said,”This girl wanted a pair for her birthday and she picked out a bunch of bands that she liked and so every part of the shoe was a different CD cover.”
“They turned out really well; they took forever to do though. They turned out really well in the end. She’s in Belgium now, so I’ll never see them ever again,” she said with a laugh.