Generally... the throws recomended for a trainer are WELL below here the surfaces start to lose effectiveness from excess deflection.

On a typical model, flying about 50 to 80 mph, the control surfaces will still be effective at over 45 deg deflecion. The increase in force on the control system becomes greater compared to the resulting control effect asthe surface is deflected more, up to appx 60 deg, where practically any control surface starts to just be a drag source, rather than having the intended effect.

I doubt that excess travel was the cause of the crash. The description is typical of a model which was stalled, and the elevator pulled hard, before the plane had time to gain airspeed. If the CG was forward, and other conditions were compounding the problems... its easy to have the plane continue in a dive with full up elevator, holding the angle of attack of the wing just right to prevent gaining airspeed to unstall the wing. (one of the few cases where too far forward CG can kill a plane, without preventing take-off.)