Tragedy Follows Victories by Cotton and Mosqueda in Redondo Beach Race

U.S. Olympic hopefuls Terry Cotton of San Diego and Sylvia Mosqueda of Los Angeles led a pack of 10,000 runners across the finish line at the 10th annual Redondo Beach Super Bowl Sunday 10K.

The race, however, was marred by tragedy when one man was killed and eight others seriously injured when a steel grate they were standing on caved in, dropping them 25 feet below to the floor of the Pier Plaza parking structure. The accident occurred during postrace festivities.

Cotton, 33, broke out of a pack of five runners at about the third mile, and kept a 30-yard lead on second-place finisher Dave Daniels to finish at 29:11. Race favorite and twice New York Marathon winner Orlando Pizzolato got off to a great start but faded in the first mile.

“Pizzolato is a strong runner, but I don’t think he would be a factor in this race,” Cotton said. “Daniels was a concern all the way.”

Daniels, former UCLA distance and steeple-chase runner, finished at 29:21. The course record is 28:53 set by Tom Wysocki in 1985.

Mosqueda, the 21-year old track star from Cal State Los Angeles, defeated Olympian Christina Cahill of Britain with a 33:46 finish. Cahill finished at 34:05. U.S. Olympian Ruth Wysocki finished 6th at 35:32.