HS track official, mother of athlete 'livid' son was listed in fake meet

Paul Schwartz | NorthJersey

Show Caption Hide Caption Update on NJ fake track meet controversy

Glenda Waxter is a resident of Newark, a certified track and field official both for the New Jersey State Interscholastic Athletic Association and USA Track & Field and today is a very angry mother.

Waxter is one of the people whose discovery of the falsified results led to the ongoing investigation by both the NJSIAA and NJ MileSplit of the track and field meet allegedly held on May 20, 2018 at Newark's Schools Stadium. The alleged director of that meet, who gave his name as Cory Johnson in an email sent to NJ MileSplit and reported earlier Tuesday by NorthJersey.com, admitted that the results of the meet were falsified.

But Waxter isn't satisfied with his admission or his apology.

"I'm livid because my son was one of those boys whose marks were posted when they didn't happen,'' said Waxter in a phone interview Tuesday. "He worked very hard to achieve what he's already achieved and he wants no part of what they tried to pull.''

Dave Alfano, the head coach at St. Benedict's also noticed the unusual results and contacted Rob Kellert, the NJ Mile Split Editor.

"I told him that the results looked funny and he told me he was already on it,'' said Alfano.

Kellert texted NJSIAA Assistant Director Bill Bruno about the problem. Bruno had already heard about it elsewhere and told Kellert and others he would take it to NJSIAA Executive Director Larry White Tuesday morning.

Waxter, who worked as an official at the North 1, Group 1 & 4 sectional meet at Clifton, had noticed the discrepancy between her son's actual best triple jump mark of 43-8 1/2 that he achieved in winning the 2017 North Non-Public B title and the 45-10 he was given at the bogus Brick City Invitational that was posted on NJ MileSplit. She knew he hadn't competed on May 20.

"I was in a hurry to get to the sectional meet, and didn't get a chance to call until Saturday night, but I knew that was wrong and I wanted to get it corrected,'' said Waxter.

When she got home from the second day of the meet Saturday, she called West Side coach Eddie Greene who had been listed as the director of the meet and had been her son's youth coach several years ago.

"I left a message for him at 7:01 Saturday night and then at 12:44 a.m. on Sunday morning he called me back,'' she said. "I told him he'd better take out my son's results and he told him he would and he blamed a computer glitch.''

When NorthJersey.com spoke with Greene on Tuesday, he denied any involvement in the meet, saying he was in Atlanta at his son's college graduation at the time of the meet.

Lenny Hughes, the head track coach at Immaculate Conception of Montclair, also noticed that two of his athletes had exceptional performances at a meet that they hadn't attended. One of them was his younger brother Elwin, who was recorded as long jumping 22-8 when his personal best was nearly 18 inches shorter.

"I was really, really confused and annoyed,'' said Lenny Hughes. "I'm glad that the NJSIAA is looking into this.''