Saugus’ Gilman competed against surviving suspect

SAUGUS – After police named 19-year-old Dzhokhar Tsarnaev as a suspect in the Boston Marathon bombing and overnight police shootout in Watertown, former Saugus High School wrestling captain Shawn Gilman came to a startling realization.”My mother woke me up and said something about (Tsarnaev) being on the wrestling team,” said Gilman. “I saw a picture of him and said, ‘Oh. I know that kid. I wrestled him.'”Gilman, who graduated Saugus High School last year, said he wrestled Tsarnaev twice when he was a member of the Cambridge Rindge and Latin team.”It’s just messed up,” said Gilman. “I met the kid both times after wrestling him junior and senior year and he seemed like a good kid so I was just shaking my head. It’s a shame. It’s definitely weird. I just think people are messed up. If that’s what makes you happy, then I don’t know what to tell you. It’s not cool. There’s nothing really good about it. I hope it all ends.Gilman said he lost two close matches to Tsarnaev, once at the 119 weight class his junior year and again at 126 pounds last year.”He actually came back each time I wrestled him,” he said. “I was beating him and he ended up coming back in the third each time. He was a tough kid. They were close matches.”Saugus High School wrestling coach Rudi Johnson also recognized Tsarnaev’s photo on the news said it’s “pretty freaky” that Gilman wrestled him.”Once I heard he was a wrestler and then learned his age and saw his picture, I definitely, said “Yeah, I recognize him,'” said Johnason. “I actually texted the Cambridge coach to see if he was the one and he said, ‘Yeah.’ You see all the kids that they’ve interviewed that say, ‘I shook his hand after matches ?’ I don’t remember, but he seemed like a nice kid and he was respectful.”Matt Tempesta can be reached at [email protected]. You can follow him on Twitter @MattTempesta.