Battling Cancer, High School Inspiration Jack Punswick Finishes Second at Kansas State Champs
In 2024, as a junior, Jack Punswick won the Kansas 6A swimming state title in the 100-yard breaststroke. His time of 57.94 was massive personal best, over a second and a half faster than his prelims swim.
As a sophomore, Punswick’s baseball team cut him from the squad. The Cool Swim Team became his home, a place that would prove extremely fruitful for Punswick’s athletic pursuits. Initially, he swam to times around the 1:10 range in the 100 breaststroke. Going into his senior season, with drops making him a Futures Championships qualifier, things started to go wrong over the summer.
At first, Punswick seemed to battle pneumonia. After returning home from Futures, Punswick found he had swollen lymph nodes, which only got bigger with time. Less than a week later, it was confirmed: Hodgkin Lymphoma.
A thankfully highly treatable form of cancer, Punswick’s life was put almost entirely on pause. While before he’d been considering what college to take his talents to, now he was scheduling chemotherapy. It was a situation that threw his entire family into the unknown. The only known relative of the Punswick family with cancer was Punswick’s grandmother. She had gone through breast cancer without chemotherapy.
Swimming Through Treatment
The Punswicks are a family with a deep history of swimmers. His father swam Division I at Western Illinois. His aunt swam at the University of Evansville. Having a base in the sport from summer league, it was not unreasonable to see Punswick’s progression.
After his diagnosis, however, the very concept of swimming became completely up in the air, at least for Jack’s support team. For him, it was never in question. In an interview with Big Friendly Swim Podcast, Punswick explained his commitment and confidence.
“I told my mom the day I got diagnosed. I was like, ‘I’m going to beat cancer and I’m going to defend my state title.’”
In many ways, swimming provided a sense of normalcy for a life that had been almost entirely upended. It didn’t come without its challenges. Punswick described swimming through treatment the same way as swimming cooldown after a difficult race.
On weeks with chemotherapy on Thursdays, he would be out of the pool the rest of the week. A week of normalcy would then precede the two-week process repeating. Swimming gave Punswick a way to get out of bed and have something to work toward. In the fall, his first race post-diagnosis, Punswick surprised even himself with a strong 1:03 in his signature 100-yard breaststroke. Not only was that a stellar swim on its own, it also qualified him for the state championships. His eyes were squarely on a repeat title.
Punswick’s confidence came from something he realized mid-treatment. All of his swims from July 2024 at Futures, maybe even from the state championships in February 2024, happened while his body was fighting cancer.
2025 State Championships
The swimming community quickly took notice of the young swimmer’s attitude while he battled his illness. Team USA Olympic legend Nathan Adrian made it a point of reaching out to Punswick. Adrian, a testicular cancer survivor, has never missed an opportunity to champion men’s health and use his platform in positive ways. This approach undoubtedly left a lasting positive impression on Punswick, who hopes to meet the Olympic champion one day after receiving messages of support from him.
Just weeks from the state championships in February, Punswick put up the fastest time in Kansas in the 100 breaststroke. All eyes on the meet, the senior was awarded the Spirit of the State Award. Given to just one athlete in Kansas every year, it represented another example of how his positivity had inspired more than just the people in his immediate circle.
Days after a CAT scan to assess his treatment progress showed he was doing well, Punswick stepped up to defend his state title. A year older and filled with new life experiences, he finished second in the state with a 59.63 performance. While unsuccessful in defending his title, just being at the meet and swimming at his best, meant the world.
“It is amazing” he said. “…I wouldn’t be here without the support I’ve had from my parents, my amazing girlfriend, the team at Blue Valley West, my coaches who have been here every single day. I wouldn’t be here if it weren’t for any of them.”
Choosing to Inspire Through Hardship
For Punswick, cancer brought about an opportunity to prove his inner strength. Advice that helped him early on was his priest telling him: “If you have to suffer, suffer well.”
In one of his ultrasounds, Punswick humorously – after having his lower abdomen probed – asked: “Am I having a boy or a girl?” Clearly, for Punswick, suffering well meant not forgetting or losing who you are.
After receiving so much help during his still ongoing treatment, Punswick has his sights set on a pre-physical therapy track. His medical support team, which has continued to find ways to make him smile, inspired him to help others through his career goals.
Coming up first, however, is a gap year where a remarkable young man will rest and heal while continuing his college swimming search.
