The Oakland University women's swimming and diving team won the 2002 National Independent Conference Championships as they tallied 746 points. The men's program finished in third place with 558 points. Oakland's head coach Pete Hovland won the Women's Head Coach of the Year Award for the women's spectacular performance. Rounding out the top three behind OU on the women's side was Northern Arizona with 715 points and Florida Atlantic with 667.50. On the Men's side Southern Methodist was first with 923 points, Hawaii with 567 points and OU with 558 points. The women's team sealed it's first NIC title as the 400 freestyle relay team of Oksana Strelets, Holly Miller, Tamara Swaby and Danielle Ward broke both the pool and NIC records with a time of 3:24.19. Collecting top finishes for the women were Tara Berringer, Shelley Aurit and Tanya Korniyenko. Berringer tallied OU's first top finish as she was first in the 200 backstroke as she recorded a time of 2:03.22. Aurit finished first in the 200 breaststroke with a time of 2:17.67 and rounding out OU's top finishers was Korniyenko as she was first in the 200 butterfly with a time of 2:02.20. Leading OU on the men's side was the 400 freestyle relay team of Chris Sullivan, Dave Hartzel, Tim Johnson and Sean Broadbent as they placed second behind pool record breaking SMU with a time of 2:57.88. This closes out the 2002 season for the Golden Grizzlies, but a select few maybe chosen to represent OU in the NCAA Championships. WOMEN Oakland-746 Northern Arizona-715 Florida Atlantic-667.50 Western Kentucky-583.50 Louisiana-Monroe-257 Cincinnati-186 MEN Southern Methodist-923 Hawaii-567 Oakland-558 Western Kentucky-514 Florida Atlantic-399 Louisiana-Monroe-206 Cincinnati-104