An official cause of 13-year-old Ashley Ann Bryan's death was still pending Wednesday evening but it wasn't anything contagious or infectious, Mercer County Coroner J. Bradley McGonigle III said.

Ashley, of 1957 Pine Hollow Blvd., Hermitage, died Tuesday morning in the hospital of Sharon Regional Health System after the eighth-grader collapsed in the library of Hermitage Middle School at about 8:30 a.m. She was in the library to study for an academic competition, said school Superintendent Karen Ionta.

Ashley's father, the Rev. Gary Bryan, pastor of Shenango Valley Church of God in Hermitage, said his daughter did not have any health problems, except for asthma, so he and her mother, Sandy, agreed to an autopsy.

It was performed Tuesday afternoon by forensic pathologist Dr. Eric Vey in Erie County.

McGonigle said her cause of death can not be determined until microscopic and molecular studies have been completed.

Rev. Bryan said doctors told him his daughter may have suffered from an infection that caused her heart to swell, though she did not have any prior heart problems.

During the Hickory High School renovation dedication Wednesday evening, Mrs. Ionta asked for a moment of silence in "memory of Ashley" and to ask "for strength for her family and the students and staff of the Hermitage Middle School."

Grief counselors, who went to the middle school Tuesday, will stay throughout the week and "as long as they need to be there" for students to talk with, Mrs. Ionta said Tuesday.

Obituary information on page A-4.