Junior Margaret Kelly started day two of the women's swimming and diving Big Ten Championships by breaking her own conference record in the 200-yard individual medley (1:55.90) and earning an automatic qualifying time for NCAA Championships at Canham Natatorium.

It was the start of what was supposed to be a banner day for Kelly, but she suffered chest muscle spasms which caused breathing problems. The injury forced Kelly to scratch the final of the 200-yard individual medley. She was favored to defend her Big Ten title in the event.

The loss is a huge blow to the Wolverines’ title hopes. Michigan is currently in third-place (256) behind Minnesota (236) and Indiana (250).

Senior Hannah Smith finished second (1:58.56) in the 200-yard individual medley preliminaries, nearly three seconds behind Kelly. Despite Kelly’s absence, Smith finished fifth in the finals (1:59.38), while senior Payton Johnson finished eight (2:00.81). Kelly’s preliminary time would have been good enough to secure her second Big Ten championship in the event and a top-two finish would have given Michigan a 37-point edge.

“Our long-term concern is the next four weeks between now and NCAAs, because (Kelly's) swimming really fast,” Michigan coach Jim Richardson said. “I guess if you coach long enough things, like that are going to be happen, I’ve never had it happen before."

With Kelly out, Michigan was forced to find a replacement in the 200-yard freestyle relay. Fifth-year senior Caroline Rodriguez stepped in and helped the Wolverines earn a season best time (1:29.88), but it wasn’t enough for first-place as Smith, freshman Alexa Mehesan, Rodriguez and sophomore Natasha Moodie finished third behind Wisconsin (1:29.36) and Minnesota (1:28.74).

“You have to learn to adjust, we had to throw together a different 200-yard freestyle relay at the last minute,” Richardson said. “They did a great job.”

The 50-yard freestyle is swimming’s equivalent to track’s 100-meter dash — it’s just a start and a turn. The start is crucial in the event, and for Moodie it was the difference. Moodie finished seventh (22.78) despite posting a 21.96 split in the 200-yard medley relay the previous day.

Thursday marked the start of the one-meter diving event, where freshman Amanda Lohman’s sixth-place finish (296.00) pushed the Wolverines ahead of the Nittany Lions after six events.

Kelly is listed second in the 400-yard individual medley for tomorrow morning's preliminaries. She leads the team with 14 individual victories. Despite the injury, she stood by and supported her teammates while they competed.

“We’re just going take it one day at a time, see how she responds to the medication and follow doctor’s orders,” Richardson said. “She was more disappointed that she couldn’t go out there and swim for her team.”