[2] Her younger brother, Ricky, was charged in the death of their father, who was fatally stabbed on February 4, 1994,[2] but he was found mentally unfit to stand trial.

At the 1991 World Championships in Munich, they performed a "catchy"[5] free dance based upon the theme of stock car racing.

Kestnbaum also stated that although their theme seemed to "defy gender",[5] Punsalan's role of the car followed conventional representation of the female body taking on "the status of inanimate object (or alien 'other')",[6] while Swallow represented the more male role of the human agent, or driver.

[4] The couple developed a rivalry with Renee Roca / Gorsha Sur, who had earlier choreographed a program for them and trained alongside them.

Punsalan and Swallow were involved in a letter-writing campaign to Congress to prevent Sur from receiving expedited citizenship, which would allow him to compete at the 1994 Olympics.

Punsalan/Swallow won silver at the 1995 U.S. Championships behind Roca and Sur but finished ahead of them the following year to take their third national title.