The Michigan women's swimming and diving team's 800-yard freestyle relay team broke the school record during the Big Ten Championships at Canham Natatorium last night, but it still wasn’t good enough to win.

Outfitted in high-tech LZR Racer bodysuits, the team of senior Hannah Smith, junior Margaret Kelly and freshmen Kristyne Cole and Liz Koselka touched the wall third with a time of 7:06.32.

And the tough competition was reflected across the board. With two days left in the conference championships, the Wolverines currently sit third, behind Indiana and Minnesota. The Gophers have 72 points, just 12 ahead of the Wolverines.

Minnesota led the 800-yard freestyle relay race from start to finish, making it a race for second place between Indiana and Michigan. The Golden Gophers smashed the Big Ten record by nearly six seconds (7:01.65). The Wolverines appeared to catch the Hoosiers when Cole sprinted out of the blocks at the start of the third leg. But, Cole couldn't keep up with the blistering pace.

Nearly all the swimmers sported high-tech bodysuits for the meet, but the suits could pose potential problems if the team doesn't train occasionally in them.

“Most of them have gotten used to the suits,” Michigan coach Jim Richardson said. “One of things you have to learn with the suit is not to go out too fast too soon. The suit will carry you out. I think we had a couple of races out there tonight in the 200 where people felt so good, they got really excited and went a little bit too hard a little bit too soon.”

In the first event of the evening, the Wolverines struggled in the 200-yard medley, a race that's been one of their weaknesses all season due to the lack of a strong breaststroker. Four teams broke the previous Big Ten record in the event, with Wisconsin touching the wall first (1:36.29), just ahead of second-place Indiana (1:36.80).

Today the Big Ten Championships continue with preliminaries in the morning and finals in the evening. Kelly will look to defend her title in the 200-yard individual medley while sophomore Natasha Moodie aims to win the 50-yard freestyle. The Wolverines also boast a solid team heading into the 200-yard freestyle relay, one of their strongest events.

“I think the 200 IM, we’ll be pretty good there and the 50 is always kind of a crapshoot in a way, because it’s a start and a turn,” Richardson said. “We’re just going to concentrate on trying to swim really good races and see how fast we can go. We went faster tonight than we have all season long. That’s one of our goals.”