The Michigan women's swimming and diving team's trip to Puerto Rico over winter break was anything but relaxing.

After numerous workouts in Puerto Rico during their training camp, the Wolverines were left exhausted at the Indiana Invitational this weekend.

Assistant Coach Stefanie Kerska said that exhaustion played into a third-place finish for the Wolverines in Bloomington. Tennessee won the meet with a score of 1,454, followed by Indiana (1,294.5), Michigan (714) and Illinois (186.5).

Despite swimming through a bout of tropical fatigue, there were some standout performances.

Junior Margaret Kelly started the morning session strong, placing first in 200-yard individual medley (201.18) and second in the 50-yard freestyle with a personal-best time of 23.32.

Senior Hannah Smith touched the wall just behind Kelly in the 200-yard individual medley (2:02.63) and notched a third-place finish in the 100-yard backstroke (56.14). She also earned a victory in the 200-yard freestyle (1:49.81), tying Carly Mathes of Tennessee.

“Overall, I think we all swam very tough today,” Smith said.

Kerska stressed the importance of swimming with an increased workload. Michigan competed in three sessions at the invitational, which forced some Wolverines to swim in as many as four events within a 90-minute span.

The meet marked the second time this season the Wolverines have swam against — and found themselves overmatched by — Big Ten rival Indiana.

Michigan had some success in to relay events. The team placed second in the 200-yard freestyle relay (1:33.19), just seven-tenths of a second behind event champ, on Tennessee, and third in the 400-yard freestyle relay (3:25.67).

On the second day of competition, Smith finished third in the 200-yard backstroke (1:59.39) after keeping pace with Olympian Kate Zubcova of Indiana for nearly the entire race.

Kerska also praised the efforts of freshman Caitlin Dauw, who placed second in the 200-yard butterfly (2:02.33).

In medley relays, the Wolverines continue to struggle without a primary breaststroker to carry a quarter of the race. Kerska has yet to find the right combination of swimmers to establish a successful relay.

“We’re experimenting with different people and different spaces,” Kerska said. “We definitely feel like we have more options going into second semester.”

Heading into the last half of the season, the team will be focusing on higher-intensity workouts and establishing explosiveness in the pool. The extensive training over break will help the Wolverines compete when they host the Big Ten meet in late February.

“They showed a lot of toughness and showed a lot of heart,” Kerska said. “Sometimes it doesn’t look good on the scoreboard or good with records, but they understand that this is the price they pay in order to be consistent in February and March.”