An 18-year-old Milton woman who died yesterday of injuries suffered when a car struck a group of cyclists in Arkansas was remembered by her father as “an adventurer and a fighter” — an accomplished athlete who was chasing her dream of crossing the nation on a bicycle before heading to college.

Merritt Levitan was one of 13 cyclists on the trip planned by Williamstown-based Overland summer camp program riding from Charleston, S.C., to Santa Monica, Calif., when the group was hit by a car Tuesday driven by a 21-year-old man just north of McCrory, Ark. Levitan and six others were injured in the crash. She died at a Memphis, Tenn., hospital. Two others remain hospitalized.

“I don’t have the words to describe the feeling that we all have, her many, many friends and family, and the people she was truly an inspiration to. It’s just devastating to everybody,” her father, Richard Levitan, said, speaking from Memphis. “… She is a gift from God and she touched so many people in her abbreviated life.”

Overland said the rest of the trip will be canceled.

“At this point, we believe that this is what needs to be done to allow all involved time to process their thoughts and emotions while surrounded by loved ones,” the company said in a statement. “We are working with families to make arrangements for students to return home.”

The state prosecutor in Woodruff County, Ark., John Bell, said tests on the driver, Teagan Ross Martin, 21, of Newport, Ark., indicated he did not have alcohol in his blood at the time of the accident. He said police are recovering information from the car’s data recorder, which will show speed and other factors, as well as checking phone records to see if the driver was talking or texting at the time of the crash.

“There will be some charges, we’re just not sure what they will be at this point,” Bell told the Herald. “(Martin) indicated to the investigating officer that he was looking off across the field and didn’t see them until it was too late.”

Merritt Levitan had just graduated from Milton Academy, her father said, and was heading to Colgate University in the fall. Richard Levitan said the trip was a goal his daughter set for herself, like many others she had achieved.

“We were thrilled for Merritt to do this,” he said. “She was an adventurer, fearless, and she worked hard and trained hard, and this was what she wanted to do when she graduated from Milton. … This is who my daughter was. She was an amazing person.”