Cheerleading coach among 6 killed in university van crash in Calif.’s eastern Sierra Nevada

Cheerleading coach among 6 killed in Calif. crash

BISHOP, Calif. — A university cheerleading coach is among six people killed in a fiery crash in California’s eastern Sierra Nevada that injured a dozen student-athletes.

California Baptist University says Wendy Rice died Monday night when an SUV swerved into the center median on U.S. Highway 395 near the town of Bishop, about 230 miles east of San Francisco. The SUV struck one of three vans carrying the Riverside school’s cross-country team to a high-altitude training camp in Mammoth.

The SUV burst into flames.

Rice was a mother of two who lived in Corona.

The other five people who died were in the SUV. The Inyo County coroner’s office hasn’t released their names.

The California Highway Patrol says a dozen student-athletes were hurt, some critically. There’s no immediate word on their condition Tuesday.