Girls' 3,000m
Will this race be strategic or a record-breaker (or at least close to it)? That's the biggest question in this one. All of our top competitors will be doing double, even triple duty, on Saturday with hopes of helping their teams win a state title. La Salle's Grace Connolly is our No. 1 seed and also the defending champion. Also in the field is Westerly's Randi Burr, Portsmouth's Nikki Merrill, South Kingstown's Ellie Lawler and La Salle's Emily Kane, all who have broken 10:30 with Connolly at the top of the list with her season best of 10:07.08. The surprise entry here might be Merrill, who just recently clocked 4:50 for the mile at the New Balance Grand Prix. Merrill is not entered in the 1,500m, but the 600m and 1,000m as well as the 3k It appears she's entered in this event to gain some valuable points with the absence of teammate Elizabeth Sullivan at the meet. Based on what she has done the last year, including this season, Merrill would have to be considered the favorite in this event and should be able to go well under current best of 10:22. She has only run this race on a few occasions, but with 4:50 speed for the mile and sub 18 minutes for 5K (remember, she was second at the cross-country state meet and did qualify for the Nike Nationals), she's capable of low 10 minutes or faster if the race turns into something more than tactical. The state record is 9:47.35. That may be out of reach, but we are not ruling it out.