STE. GENEVIEVE — Give Bailee Dare and Kelby Schoenfeld some company in Columbia.

That was the goal over the weekend for Dustin Howard’s Owensville Dutchmen wrestlers during the Missouri State High School Activities Association (MSHSAA) Class 2, District 1 Boys Wrestling Tournament at Ste. Genevieve High School.

Out of the seven wrestlers that started the district tournament Friday night, two orange and black grapplers qualified for this week’s MSHSAA Wrestling Championships scheduled to start today (Wednesday) at Mizzou Arena in Columbia.

Arguably the feel good story of wrestling season, Dutchmen senior Gabe Soest went from one win as a freshman to 10 wins as a sophomore culminating with a trip to state following his fourth-place finish at 150 pounds in Ste. Genevieve.

“Gabe has worked so hard over the last four years and it will be awesome to see him end his high school wrestling career at state,” Howard said.

Soest’s road to Columbia began Friday night with an opening-round bout against St. Clair freshman Logan Bartz.

Pinning the Bulldog grappler in 1:05, Soest moved on to the quarterfinals and a showdown with Ste. Genevieve junior Gavin Amlong.

Looking to play dragon slayer, Soest accomplished that feat with a win by fall in 3:44 moving him one win away from state in a district-semifinal showdown with Sullivan junior Adam Peregoy.

Unable to match Peregoy’s offense, Soest lost by technical fall 17-2 in the closing seconds.

This sent him to the consolation semifinals at 150 pounds where only Kennett junior Mike’kel Payne stood between Soest and a trip to Columbia where his older brother Anthony qualified as a junior and senior back in 2015 and 2016.

Maintaining the lead throughout the match, Gabe was able to get the win by fall in 4:33 to punch his ticket to Mizzou Arena.

“It feels great to be able to qualify for state on the same mats that my brother did years ago,” Gabe Soest said. “I’ve put in the work over the years in spite of winning one match as a freshman. I showed myself that if you stick with somethings, good things are more likely to happen.”

Losing a 9-6 decision to Dexter’s Kasen Forkum in the third-place match at 150 pounds, Soest settled for fourth place and will open his portion of the state tournament against Benton senior Bishop Rush in one of eight first-round matches at 150 pounds.

Having his bubble burst as a freshman last year, Hayden Shoemaker entered districts this year on a 30-match winning steak, the OHS sophomore entered the tournament seeded third at 285 pounds behind Herculaneum’s Shea Eberhardt and Ste. Genevieve’s Jacob Schweigert.

Shoemaker’s last loss was to Schweigert by a 3-2 decision during the Sam Richardson Duals Tournament at Moberly High School back in mid-December.

In order to set up a chance to avenge that loss, Shoemaker needed to take care of business.

Drawing a bye to the quarterfinals, Shoemaker matched up with Kennett sophomore Kevin Thompson.

Scoring a first-period takedown for a 2-0 lead, Shoemaker eventually saw Thompson tie the match at 2-2 on a pair of escapes going into the third period.

Starting the period in the bottom position, Shoemaker scored a reversal six seconds into the period before riding out the Indian sophomore winning a 4-2 decision.

Advancing to a semifinal showdown with Eberhardt, Shoemaker needed to upset the second-seeded Blackcat grappler to advance to the district title match and punch his ticket to state.

Scoring first on a takedown, Shoemaker allowed two escapes tying the match at 2-2 entering the third period.

Able to escape midway through the third period, Shoemaker scored another takedown securing a 5-2 win and a spot at state.

“It’s awesome to see my hard work pay off with a trip to state,” Shoemaker said.

In the title match against Schweigert, Shoemaker was able to pin the Dragon grappler in 1:00 securing his district title.

Shoemaker will face STEAM’s Reggie Thomas in first-round action at 285 pounds at state.