By Ed Farrell

Herald Assistant Sports Editor

Paced by Wilmington’s Chris Burns and Paul Yohman, Grove City’s Kristy Woods and Hana Casalnova, Mercer’s Weston Schaa and Reynolds’ Kara Mostoller, Mercer County-area athletes will be expected to set the pace during Saturday’s District 10 Class AA Track & Field Championships.

Action commences 9:30 a.m. at Hickory High’s Hornet Stadium, with athletes bent on earning berths in next weekend’s PIAA Championships. In D-10 AA, the top 2 placewinners in each event, as well as those finishing 3rd-through-8th who meet predetermined qualifying standards, advance to Shippensburg University’s Seth Grove Stadium Memorial Day weekend.

Grove City’s girls edged Fort LeBoeuf, 60-59è, for last season’s District 10 AA team title, while Lakeview’s boys eased past Fairview, 68-66.

Burns (long jump, 200-meter dash), Yohman and Woods (shot put, discus), Schaa (high, triple jumps), Mostoller (long, triple jumps), and Casalnova (400-, 800-meter runs) head the county contingent as top seeds. In addition, other top-seeded area athletes include: George Junior Republic’s Earl Banks (100-meter dash; Burns has equalled that clocking); Sharon’s Jacques Moss (400), Wilmington’s Ryan Bell (javelin), Hickory’s Vince Kopen (pole vault), Slippery Rock’s Elissa McCune (intermediate hurdles), and Wilmington’s 4x1 relay quartet of Chris and brother Derrick Burns, Forrest Minteer and Nick Riggall.

A few interesting tidbits:

ä Schaa is seeking to defend his twin titles — he high-jumped 6-8 last spring — as is Woods (she set a district AA meet mark in the shot with a 42-foot toss last year). Woods went on to garner gold in the discus and settled for silver in the shot on Shippensburg’s statewide stage last spring; Burns was runner-up in the long jump, and Schaa soared to 3rd in the triple jump and stood 6th in the high jump.

´´ Also in regard to the D-10 Championships, Mostoller (long jump), Burns (200), Casalnova (800), Grove City’s Greg Reiber (shot), Mercer’s Justin Angermeier (javelin) and West Middlesex Miranda Negrea (high jump) are other returning county crown-wearers. Casalnova claimed runner-up laurels in the 400, and Mostoller also ended 3rd in the triple jump.

´´ Returnees who earned commonwealth medals a year ago include: Angermeier (3rd, javelin), Yohman (6th, shot), Casalnova (6th, 400), Mostoller (7th, long jump), Hickory’s Emily Woods (7th, discus), Mercer’s Melissa Smith (8th, 3200-meter run) and Lakeview’s Fawn Miller (8th, javelin).

Miller could be a darkhorse this spring, though the sophomore’s reputation is attracting attention. Her personal-best throw (152-10) set earlier this spring already has surpassed the D-10 record (140-4, set by Eisenhower’s Elisha Jones in ’05) and is within reach of the state standard (162-4, set by Westmont-Hilltop’s Karlee McQuillen in ’06).

ä Bell’s bomb (220-7), also set earlier this spring, exceeded the existing PIAA record (207-10, set by Central Columbia’s Osayi Osunde in 2005), and is within striking distance of the National Federation of High Schools mark (224-2, set by Cedar Crest, Pa.’s Thomas Jordan, ’03). Bell stood 6th in last spring’s D-10 meet.

ä Scanning meet manager Barb Dzuricsko’s D-10 AA records research, several familiar names resurfaced — and 1990 was a very good year — highlighted by Hickory hurdler Amy Perman (highs, 14.64; intermediates, 43.90, ’90), and West Middlesex sprinter Jenny Kerins (100, 11.93; 200, 24.90, ’90).

Other records maintained by Mercer Countians include (mark, plus year set):