Nicholville and Massena residents finished competed at and won several tournaments at a Jiu Jitsu competition in Vermont this weekend.

Abigail Duquette, 16 of Nicholville and a sophomore at St. Regis Falls won first place in two competitions in the Vermont Open Jiu Jitsu Champion Saturday April 9.

Using a variety of submissions consisting of multiple arm bars, head and arm triangles and guillotine sleepers, Duquette won first place in Teens GI and in Teens No-GI. She also entered the adult division later in the day (ages 18-39) and in her very first match, losing two points to zero with three seconds remaining. she applied a guillotine sleeper to her opponent which put her to sleep giving Duquette a victory at the buzzer over a older and larger opponent.

Duqette went onto win the entire tournament giving her three first place finishes for the day.

[img_assist|nid=168102|title=Rhode|desc=|link=none|align=left|width=250|height=333]Wes Rode, 15 of Massena, a sophomore at Massena High School took first place in the Teen GI, second place in the Teens No-GI and third place in the adult division by using multiple submissions such as the rear choke, triangle choke and guillotine choke to gain submissions, as well as outscoring his opponents in his other matches.

Abby and Wes train privately with National Master Submission Fighter Al ‘Sonny’ Duquette of Nicholville and with UFC Ultimate Fighter participant Spencer Paige of North Country Brazilian Jiu Jitsu at the Norfolk High School.

They both plan on competing in their respective divisions in Syracuse in May at the NAGA Grappling Championships.

Those wanting to learn Jiu Jitsu can call instructor Spencer Paige at 244-5618.