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.”