Wrestling
Favorite athlete: Jamaal Charles
Favorite team: Kansas City Chiefs
Most embarrassing/funniest thing that has happened while competing in sports: It is not appropriate to tell you!
Music on iPod: Black Keys
Future Plans: Attend Penn State University for Aerospace Engineering
Words to live by: ‘Work smarter not harder’ or ‘To never fail is to never try.’
One goal before turning 30: Finish my degree and grad school
One thing people don’t know about me: I like to white water kayak.
By Mary Jane Souder
Tyler Seislove has wrestling in his blood.
The Quakertown senior’s father was a state qualifier during his high school days at Spring-Ford and went on to wrestle at the collegiate level. He also was the former varsity wrestling coach at Quakertown and, until last year, coached in the middle school. His uncle is the head coach of Spring-Ford’s successful wrestling program. It was a natural assumption that Tyler would follow their lead, and he has - creating a legacy of his own at Quakertown.
Seislove is a two-year captain of a Panther program that has won three conference titles in his four years on the varsity. Last year he finished first at sectionals, second at districts and sixth at regionals. He currently is five wins away from reaching the prestigious 100-win milestone.
“To be involved in winning a league title three out of four years when you’re involved in a sport at the high school level is pretty impressive,” coach Kurt Handel said. “Some people get caught up in national rankings, but there’s nothing wrong with winning a league title. That’s quite an accomplishment.
“This year he’s a leader by example in the practice room – working hard and pushing the guys. He’s really a pretty quiet kid, and he’s such a nice young man. He’s so polite, he’s so kind, and he’s so respectful.”
Seislove served early notice that he would be an impact wrestler, compiling a 19-11 record as a freshman at 119. As a sophomore, he moved up a weight to 135 since Scotty Wolfinger was wrestling at 130. He still notched 16 wins.
“Unfortunately, he was stuck behind Scotty, but in the practice room, he really improved because he was wrestling Scotty every day,” Handel said. “Then he had his opportunity to shine.”
And shine he did.
As a junior, he compiled a 36-8 record, and just one match separated Seislove from that elusive trip to the state tournament. With the postseason on the horizon, he is looking out to close out his high school career strong.
“I want to win everything I can and hopefully get the trip to states that everyone dreams of getting at some point in their career,” Seislove said. “That would be icing on the cake for me, getting a chance to go to states as a wrestler.”
Seislove – at the encouragement of his father – began wrestling in second grade. He also played soccer, baseball and football. Wrestling was not necessarily at the top of his list back in the early years.
“I remember when I was younger I always asked my dad not to sign me up the next year,” he said. “It’s kind of like – when you’re in it, you don’t want to be in it, but when you’re not doing it, you really miss it.
“At first, I didn’t like it, but now it feels right to wrestle, and it would feel weird if Id didn’t.”
As a freshman, Seislove was part of a Panther wrestling squad that won district duals and advanced to the state duals.
“When he came to us as a freshman, he was pretty talented,” Handel said. “He was a freshman that did all the offseason wrestling and big-time tournaments.”
Although Seislove has been among the area’s elite wrestlers, his journey has not been without its peaks and valleys. The senior captain hit a low point earlier this season. Not only were the Panthers off to a slow start – opening the season with a 2-9 record, Seislove endured a difficult stretch of his own after a 7-1 start.
“Like many seniors, Tyler was expecting a lot from himself, and he went 3-3 at the Liberty Holiday Tournament and 2-1 at the Whitehall Duals and reinjured his ribs,” Handel said.
Those four losses in a short time span were unexpected, and Seislove began to have his doubts.
“It was really a struggle for me,” he said. “There was a point where I didn’t wrestle against CB South, and I didn’t really want to be on the wrestling team anymore. That was the lowest point of my career probably, but I had a sit-down talk with coach Handel, and he was pretty good about that.”
Seislove returned to the mat with a vengeance and earned a huge win over Central Bucks East’s Francesco Fabozzi that propelled the Panthers to a win in the match. He followed that with a 5-0 performance at the Neshaminy Duals, and he has been winning consistently ever since.
Although Seislove has a lengthy list of personal accomplishments, it is his team’s accomplishments that mean the most.
“To win a championship my last year is really special, especially with the way the season started,” he said. “It was bad, and to see how we all came together and turned things around, it really showed a lot about us, about the team and what we can do. It just makes the ending feel a lot better.”
Just as he excels on the mat, Seislove also excels in the classroom where he is enrolled in all AP and honors classes.
“My dad is a teacher, both my grandparents were teachers and my uncles – pretty much my whole one side of the family is teachers,” he said. “Academics have always been stressed pretty hard in my family.”
Seislove will be attending Penn State University next fall where he will major in aerospace engineering. Wrestling will not be part of his future.
“I could see him wrestling intramurals in a year or two, and saying, ‘I want to do that,’” Handel said. “But he’s ready to have a winter off.”
Whatever the future holds, Seislove leaves behind an impressive legacy.
