Nikki Merrill, Portsmouth
After dominating indoor and outdoor track seasons in 2017 where she captured five individual state titles in events ranging from 600m to 1,500m, Merrill is simply someone you can't count out. She's a dark horse, but you can't count her out. She knows how to perform when the time is right. She finished second this past weekend at the Class B meet after challenging South Kingstown's Lawler in the early stages. She finished with a PR of 18:17, the second best time of the day. She was also the first Rhode Islander and third overall in the Championship race of the Ocean State Invitational where she clocked 18:32.