![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)
The class four Lafayette Cross Country team will be running at the State meet on Nov. 5. On the boys side, the three that advanced on to Sectionals will also move on to the State meet.
This includes juniors Jordan West, Derek Legenzoff and Derek Albright. West placed 18th at Sectionals, while Legenzoff got 21st and Albright scored 30th.
For girls, the whole team will participate at State.
An automatic way for the whole team to advance is to have five runners get in the top 30. Although this didn’t happen for Lafayette, numbers were given to their five fastest runners, and since their combined score was low enough, they placed third as a team.
Lafayette’s first runner was junior Caity Most, who placed 12th, then junior Kelly Carpenter who got 15th. Senior Maddie Henning placed 24th, junior Grace Bueckendorf got 28th and sophomore Katherine Kelly placed 31st.
Senior Maddie Henning said, “We’re really excited to make it as a team again. This year, though, we hope to place in the top ten teams at the meet. Last year, we had the same goal but we placed 13th, so we definitely want to show the improvements we have made throughout the season.”
The MSHSAA State Cross Country Championship will take place at Oak Hills Golf Center in Jefferson City, MO. Class four girls will run at 1:05 p.m. and class four boys will run at 12:05 p.m.
