A Natural Leader

Swimmer Jack O’Neil is making waves in the pool and on the air.

By Micaela Myers

When Jack O’Neil visited the University of Wyoming, he told swimming and diving Coach Dave Denniston that, if he joined the swim team, he wanted to be treated like every other athlete — he wanted to be pushed just as hard. And he was. As team captain, he also helped push his teammates.

O’Neil didn’t set out to be a role model or an inspiration, but as a decorated athlete, high-achieving student and someone with one leg, he understands that it goes with the territory.

“I realize that I have the power to be an inspiration every day, and I don’t take that lightly,” says O’Neil, who came to UW from Colorado Springs. “Every day that I show up to practice, I hold myself to the highest standards and hold other people to the highest standards. I recognize that I have a unique platform.”

He was born with a variety of issues in his left leg. After multiple surgeries and complications, the leg was amputated in 2013.

Now a senior at UW, O’Neil says that he strives to be a good teammate and a good person and to embrace his role as a leader. In addition to Division I swimming, he competes internationally. His accomplishments include competing in the U.S. Paralympics Swimming National Championships multiple times and becoming a three-time silver medalist at the 2023 Parapan American Games in Chile.

O’Neil is also a standout student, making the Western Athletic Conference All-Academic honors list. He is majoring in journalism with minors in honors and disability studies and aspires to a career in sports broadcast journalism. You can hear O’Neil on air this semester as he interns as a sports broadcaster for Wyoming Public Media.

However, it’s not easy balancing competitive swimming with academics. O’Neil says: “The college swim season goes from August through February, and with swimming overseas and for Team USA, it really never ends. Balancing school has been tough, but I have the greatest support staff in athletics. My advisers have always looked out for me, and I’ve been really good about making relationships with my teachers and making sure they’re in the loop. But I think the way I’ve really been able to balance it is that I just love both of the things that I do — each one is a nice break from the other.”

This summer, O’Neil became an Olympian, competing in the 2024 Paralympic Games in Paris. “I’ve been training for that ever since I started swimming,” he says. “Coming to UW, I seriously don’t think there’s a better group of people I could have been surrounded by to chase that goal.”