Lawyers Dispute Coach’s Part in Fatality : Courts: Family’s suit contends UCI soccer recruit’s death during training run was preventable. University says precautions were taken.

Lawyers clashed in court Monday over a coach’s role in the death of a UC Irvine soccer recruit who collapsed as she neared the end of a season-opening training run three years ago.

The parents of 18-year-old Terrie Cate have sued the university and Coach Ray Smith in Orange County Superior Court, charging that officials failed to provide water and take other safety precautions for the rigorous six-mile run in hot and humid weather.

In his opening statement, attorney Wylie A. Aitken told jurors that the Aug. 19, 1992, campus tragedy was a preventable case of heatstroke that arose from the coach’s “win-at-all-costs” approach.

“It was needless and senseless to allow this tragedy to occur,” Aitken said, maintaining that Smith postponed the run for two hours because of the 80-plus temperature but did not properly brief the athletes on heatstroke before sending them on the tryout run.

Cate, an incoming freshman and former soccer star at San Pascual High School in Escondido, died three days later. Her body temperature reached 107 degrees.

But an attorney representing the university said Smith was a careful coach who took pains to delay the run until it was cooler and sent water in a pickup truck driven around the course by an assistant coach and student trainer.

Attorney Andrew S. Hollins said that Cate had asthma and had trouble getting medical permission to join the team because her blood showed a low white-cell count. He said she ate little on the day of the run.

Hollins told jurors that Cate was among the front-runners most of the way and showed no distress before she tossed away her Walkman and collapsed on a hill leading to the finish line.

“Not a single [witness] thought she was in distress. Not a single one thought there was a problem,” Hollins said.

The wrongful-death suit by Shirley and Webb Cate seeks unspecified damages to cover medical, burial and funeral expenses. The trial is expected to delve heavily into sports safety and training guidelines, as well as Cate’s medical history since birth.

Trial was delayed for weeks amid concerns that publicity over allegations of human egg-stealing at a UC Irvine fertility clinic would bias prospective jurors.

The parents allege that the coach did not follow heatstroke guidelines written for college athletes when he sent about 20 soccer hopefuls on the run. In order to certify their physical condition before practicing with the women’s team, players were to run six miles around campus in an hour or less.

It was the first official workout, though the athletes were given an off-season training guide.

The two sides agree on little, including how hot it was. Terrie Cate’s parents contend that the temperature was 84 degrees; the university’s meteorologist said 77.

The Cates’ attorney said Smith was negligent in not warning the runners about the heat and providing no water stations along the course. Nine athletes dropped out of the run and two suffered heatstroke symptoms, including Terrie Cate, Aitken said.

But the defense lawyer said Smith advised runners to stop if they felt poorly and sent staffers in the truck to dole out water and keep an eye on runners.

Terrie Cate collapsed at the base of a hill a mile from the finish. A witness reported seeing her throw off her Walkman and a teammate saw her stumble.

Another teammate testified that Cate collapsed and seemed to have trouble breathing.

“She was laying face-down in the dirt and she was making a very strange noise, like she was struggling to breathe,” said senior Valerie A. Chao.

Smith now coaches at a college in Illinois.