Stephanie Napier has supported a lot of national champions at the University of Florida since arriving in the summer of 2006.
Now it's her turn to be celebrated.
Florida won the NCAA women's swimming and diving championship last weekend at Purdue University, its first title in the sport since winning the inaugural NCAA crown in 1982. Napier did her part as the third leg of the 200-yard freestyle relay, which finished first with a time of 1:27.79.
"In the four years that I've been here, we've won football twice and we've won basketball once, and to be on a team that won it is such a big deal," Napier said Thursday. "Our guys' indoor track team won the NCAAs a week before we did, and for me, being a senior, this is just a dream come true. I knew we were good and I knew we could win it, but I honestly didn't think it was going to come together to where we would win the championship.
"It was surreal."
Florida tallied 382 points to edge runner-up Stanford by just 2.5 points. The Gators trailed Stanford, Arizona and California entering the final two events, which explains why Florida coach Gregg Troy described the two-day meet as "a Cinderella weekend for us."
For Napier, it was the biggest team championship of her decorated career. She was the nation's No. 1 prep swimmer in the 50 free as both a junior and senior at Baylor School, but Harpeth Hall won the girls' state title all four years in which Napier was Baylor's team MVP.
Her final college season nearly was derailed in September by a bout with swine flu, which caused a sudden drop in weight and strength, but that memory has been replaced by that of a national title.
"That relay has always been special to me, because when I was at Baylor three of my best friends were on that relay, and it's the same way here," she said. "We trained so hard together, so winning the national championship means a lot."
Napier, who qualified for the Olympic Trials in 2004 and '08, has not determined whether Florida's title will be her final chapter in swimming. She is majoring in event management and is scheduled to graduate next spring.