When it came to the qualifying races over the weekend, East Lyme High School swim coach Jack Stabach gave his team a pair of directives: Don't get disqualified and just make sure you finish in the top six.

"Hold back a little bit," Stabach said of the message. "They're strong enough to do that. It's the first year I can tell a team to do that."

Stabach is hoping for another first tonight, the moment the Vikings have waited for, as they compete for the Class M state championship at Wesleyan University in Middletown.

East Lyme has been second on two occasions, but never first.

"There was so much energy in the pool tonight," Stabach said following his team's Monday practice. "They were dynamite. They were so pumped up. Wild and ready to go. Enthusiastic and ready to go.

"It's a crapshoot. We're all in it. There's four teams that could win this thing, all within 85 points of each other. It all comes down to who tapered for the state meet, who had the best taper, who can motivate the girls to believe they can do what they can do. It's a shot."

Stabach calls Lauralton Hall the favorite. The Crusaders were the Class S champion in 2012 and second in that division last year before bumping up to Class M. In all, Lauralton has won seven state championships and was the 1989 State Open champion.

East Lyme got off to a 57-point lead over the Crusaders in Wednesday's diving event, with senior Hanna Suarez and junior Jasmine Bazinet finishing first and second.

The meet is now in the hands of the nine Vikings swimmers still capable of scoring. Among those nine, East Lyme has finalists in nine of the 11 events, placing three finalists, in fact, in the 100-yard freestyle final.

Ugne Kirvelivicius is seeded second in the 100 breaststroke, Emma Magna third in the 100 freestyle and the 200 freestyle relay team of Magna, Kirvelivicius, Gretchen Stelter and Melinda Wei is the No. 2 seed.

East Lyme was second in Class L in 2006 and 2007.

The Vikings were 13-1 in the regular season, falling only to Wethersfield, which is also in contention in Class M. The Vikings then went on to win their 15th straight Eastern Connecticut Conference championship meet.

"We've got some tremendous seniors, a good core group of girls," said Stabach, the coach of the team for all 15 of those successful seasons. "If we win it, we win it. If we don't, I'll be happy as long as everybody swims their best.

"A victory would be huge. There's nothing better than being the No. 1 team in the state. It's going to be a lot of fun."

v.fulkerson@theday.com

Twitter: @vickieattheday