 Mearns was an All-American NCAA lacrosse player at Canisius College from 1990 to 1992 who is currently 20th all-time in Division I career points-per-game (PPG), having scored 95 goals and 95 assists for 190 career points in 39 games.He is also the all-time leading scorer at Canisius.Mearns played professionally for the NLL's Buffalo Bandits and Rochester Knighthawks, acting as captain of the 1997 NLL champion Knighthawk team.