Boys Cross Country:
“[Running on the State course] definitely ramped up the stakes for us a ton,” senior Nikolas Malek said. At the Gans Creek Invitational on Sept. 25, the Lancers pulled off a sixth place finish, with 278 points . Junior Lukas Groenewald finished in 16th with a time of 15:38.5 and Malek finished in 18th with a time of 15:43.4. The Gans Creek course is the same one used during the State meet. “It was the first time running the State course for a lot of us, so it was a great way for us to get a feel of the course before going into the postseason,” senior captain Bross Miller said.

Girls Cross Country:
The Lady Lancers placed third (in a tie with Raymore-Peculiar) out of the 29 competing teams at the Gans Creek Invitational on Sept. 25. Placing fourth with a time of 18:02.9, junior Grace Tyson continues her streak of placing in the top five. Junior Elissa Barnard, who finished fourth in the previous meet, finished 21st with a time of 19:19.6. Their next meet will be in Arkansas at the Chile Pepper Invitational on Oct. 2.

Field Hockey:
Field hockey faced John Burroughs on Sept. 22, losing 3-0. On Sept. 24, varsity traveled to Kentucky for a tournament and beat Mercy Academy, 2-1. On Sept. 25, the team played two games. In the first, sophomore Olivia Williams scored a goal in the last 16 seconds of the game, leading to Lafayette’s victory against Kentucky Country Day, 3-2. Later that afternoon, the Lady Lancers played North Oldham, falling 5-1, placing second overall in the tournament. The next home game is Oct. 8 at 4:15 p.m. against Kirkwood.

Football:
On Sept. 24, the Lancers overpowered Hazelwood West, 41-0. It was the first time the two teams played each other since 2005. Lafayette scored six touchdowns, and junior Brayden Kladney kicked an extra point for five of them. The team will face off against the Marquette Mustangs on Oct. 1 for Homecoming Game.

Girls Golf:
The varsity team had a strong week heading into Conference play, beating Rockwood Summit 164-198 on Sept. 21. Freshman Addy Surber snagged a medal with 37 strokes and senior Grace Stafford followed close behind with 38. Senior Caitlin Przybylski also had her best score of the season with 37 strokes. The team also competed in the Farmington Match Play Tournament at Crowne Pointe Golf Club, where they won three of their six matches. The team will be facing Parkway Central on Sept. 27, followed by a match against Marquette on Sept. 28 and the Suburban Yellow Pool Conference Tournament at the Crescent Farms Golf Club on Sept. 30.

Hockey:
The Lancers began their pre-season tournament Sept. 17 with a 7-4 win over Seckman. Junior Andrew Knapp led the team with three goals, sophomore Alexander Schmitt scored two and senior Luke Carrico and junior Christian Hopkins added one each. They took on Oakville Sept. 19 and posted a 4-3 win. Knapp scored two goals in that contest while Carrico and sophomore Greyson Eble  each scored one each. The next game on Sept. 22 was a 4-1 loss to Kirkwood with Knapp scoring the only goal for the Lancers.

Boys Soccer:
After a 2-0 loss to Ladue and a 2-1 loss to Parkway South, the Lancers finished the week strong with two shutouts. The first was a decisive 4-0 victory over Parkway North with goals coming from junior Marshall Ems and sophomores Matheus Gasparino, Aiden Gjorgjevski and Jacob Wipke. Sophomore Blake Klosterman had assists in both the Parkway South and North games. “It has been pretty easy to work together this year as we are all focused on being very successful as a team. Everyone wants to win and our goal is to be the best team in the State,” Klosterman said. The second win of the week was a 3-0 defeat of Parkway Central in the Parkway Tournament. Ems, Gasparino and sophomore Austin Ney scored for the Lancers. Sophomore goalie Ryan Murphy kept the ball out of his net to post two more shutouts to his total of three this season. The team’s record stands at 7-6 as they prepare to take on District rival Rockwood Summit at 6 p.m. on Sept. 28.

Softball:
The Lady Lancers won three games in a row this week, putting them at 12-7 this season. Lafayette defeated Parkway South, 4-3 on Sept. 20 with senior Kaley Adzick leading the team with two RBIs. Lafayette also beat Liberty, 10-7 on Sept. 22.  Seniors Adzick, Abby Charlton and junior Emma Durfee each drove in two runs to help boost the Lady Lancers to victory. At the annual Pink Game for breast cancer awareness on Sept. 23, the Lady Lancers dedicated the game to language arts teacher Jenny Ingram, who threw out the ceremonial first pitch. After falling to the Mustangs 11-3 earlier this season, the Lady Lancers battled to a 5-2 win. Runs were driven in by senior Morgan Vehige, sophomore Alexis Gramlich and freshman Josie Alspaw. They’ll have three home games this upcoming week, with the team celebrating Senior Night on Sept. 28.

Boys Swimming:
Boys varsity swimming and diving went up against SLUH and Oakville on Sept. 21, taking second place with a score of 110 to SLUH’s  150 and Oakville’s 65. The team then had another tri-meet with Ladue and Chaminade, where they scored a strong meet winning 129 to Chaminade’s 110 and Ladue’s 89. Next, the team will go up against Francis Howell Central at home on Sept. 28.

Girls Tennis:
The girls tennis team dominated the courts this week, winning against Parkway West 6-3, Westminster 7-2 and Fort Zumwalt West 5-4. They will face Parkway Central on Sept. 27, followed by a home match against Cor Jesu on Sept. 28. Prior to Homecoming on Oct. 2, the team will meet at Francis Howell for the MSHSAA Team Districts tournament, which runs through Oct. 7.

Girls Volleyball:
On Sept. 22, girls volleyball took on Incarnate Word in another impressive showing as they defeated the Red Knights in three straight sets. On Sept. 25, they took on the Cor Jesu Chargers. Though the three sets were all battles, the Lancers pulled out a win with scores of 32-30, 25-23 and 26-24. Later that day, they faced Nixa and swept them in three sets with scores of 25-9, 25-14 and 25-22. Next week, the girls take on St. Joe’s on Sept. 28 and St. Dominic on Sept. 29. The Lancers remain on top of the rankings for large schools.