Frank Meza 2:53:10 at LA Marathon (70 years old) unofficial time (just finished)

The summer base building phase of high school cross country is in full swing. As a former coach (20+ years) in the CIF Southern Section and parent of former runners, I am friendly with dozens of current and former coaches. I have bumped in to several over the last few weeks. Every single one of the coaches is absolutely certain about Meza's cheating. They are also incredulous that anyone with the level of running IQ necessary to helm a quality high school XC program in California could have ever possibly believed Meza's times.

One LA area coach who is VERY close to the Loyola High School program...one degree of separation (if that). He has known the Loyola coaches for years and his teams often train in the same parks as Loyola (Elysian and Griffith). He said it has been an open joke within his staff about Meza's claims for years.

This is the most amazing thread ever. Frank Meza cutting through courses like Frogger is blowing my mind. I love this.

The curious programmer/runner wrote:

....

I've created a program that could allow anybody to download a large amount of finisher pics for analysis so that not just us programmers are able to do this. Would anybody be interested in me posting the code and instructions? I can make it very fool proof.

I wouldn't do that. You'll swamp the photo sites' bandwidth and they'll make it harder for people to browse the photos for future cases.

Frankly a great race wrote:

tl;dr version: I believe I've found image evidence (and potential video evidence) of someone that matches Frank's clothing being even with the lead pack at the 10KM mat of the 2019 LAM (even though he started after them), potentially to wait in the park and then cross the 10K timing mat at the right time.

(See page 240 for full narrative and photos)

Agree with others, he'd need an accomplice, probably the same with other out of town marathons. Even in places like LA where there are e-bikes there's no guarantee you'll have one at the crucial times when precision and timing is needed, too risky. Just seems like too much uncertainty and messing around to me, but then again, I'm no cheating expert.

Accomplice and car is my conspiracy theory and there are five people close to Frank who could confirm it or deny it and probably would have been one at one time or another.

See if you can guess who the Gang of Five are.

PS In the 2018 LA marathon he's walking up to the start line in a track suit who did he hand this too?

PPS - Congrats to all the super sleuths and truth seekers for helping to maintain the integrity of the sport and the legacy of people like Ed Whitlock.

Yet Loyola High School Head Coach Lalo Diaz and Assistant Coach Dr Phillip Bland have come out and openly defended Dr Meza. Why?!!!

hmmmm tough one. 3 are relatives 2 are coaches?

They invited him to speak to his former team after this happened.

Full investigation by the school board needed in my opinion.

Editor's note: Whoever keeps nominating this post for deletion, please email us at

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. We don't understand why this should be deleted.

Al Cowlings wrote:

Meanwhile, I have a hunch Frank is doing some calf stretches on the running board of a silver or gray SUV. Maybe a BMW X5? His white singlet doesn’t match the SUV color. In the photo he’s too tall to be doing stretches with his feet on the ground while leaning on the SUV. His posture would not support the idea he was in front either.

https://m.imgur.com/a/E84t9rt

Are we maybe focusing on the wrong vehicle? Look at one photo previous to this one:

It looks more like he is walking and in the photo everyone has honed in on, he is caught midstride so it looks like he might be stretching against that vehicle, when in reality he is just passing behind it.

Well spotted. Yes, the red corolla has dropped him off just down from there and he's walking to get back on to the course.

What say you Roderick? wrote:

Well spotted. Yes, the red corolla has dropped him off just down from there and he's walking to get back on to the course.

I say FM’s style is clearly to run as little as possible. I say too, that at LAM, LB and SC....the races he runs most years....that he is repeating the same basic plot over and over. The only mystery being how he gets transported forward. He truly runs as little as possible. Imagine the adrenaline rush during each exit and each entrance....and especially after crossing the finish line...he is so jacked up, that he can’t help sometimes going back on the course to run in again with family & friends...

Roderick Powell wrote:

What say you Roderick? wrote:

Well spotted. Yes, the red corolla has dropped him off just down from there and he's walking to get back on to the course.

I say FM’s style is clearly to run as little as possible. I say too, that at LAM, LB and SC....the races he runs most years....that he is repeating the same basic plot over and over. The only mystery being how he gets transported forward. He truly runs as little as possible. Imagine the adrenaline rush during each exit and each entrance....and especially after crossing the finish line...he is so jacked up, that he can’t help sometimes going back on the course to run in again with family & friends...

He needs to hit a nice round mile that hobby joggers will run an extra half block to achieve. Gotta get those 3.0 miles in for the day!

Greg Chrisman wrote:

Deadesc is the Roger Federer of sleuthing. Incredible job. The LAM 2017 find is priceless and hopefully can lead to another LAM DQ. The Long Beach shots are perhaps the most impressive. Great job, everybody!! Looking forward to the Derek articles and his assumed accompanying emails to the race directors which have more gravitas than the average lrc poster's.

Thanks, Greg. I have a hell of a backhand. So, let me use it here....

Someone was asking how early Frank started all this. I can’t say for sure, but I can tell you this post will give a little more insight….

Los Angeles 2014, Frank recorded a 2:59:10. I went through all the 10K photos, and it was bugging the hell out of me that I could not see any photos of Frank wearing his white Aztlan singlet like so many other photos. I saw the runners who crossed right at the same time as he crossed 10K, and I saw no Frank. Did he have a bib mule? He certainly finished in that singlet. How did he do it? Well, this series shows how.

He wore a blue t-shirt over his singlet, raising it just enough to show his number to a photographer just before this one, cover it up, and then tip his head down. But it’s clearly #1073, Frank Meza. And it occurred to me after watching Sherlock Holmes the other night that I must widen my gaze….I should be looking for a guy in a short-sleeve blue t-shirt, too.

Now, this series by itself proves nothing beyond a reasonable doubt. Lots of people run in warmer clothes at the beginning of races. But the photo series prior to the 10K mat that I reviewed had no trace of Frank, either in his white singlet or his blue t-shirt. He wasn’t on Rodeo Drive at all, either. Or near Beverly Hills city hall. So, I got to thinking why….

Then it hit me. In 2014, they only had mats every 10K. Frank didn’t need to show up anywhere in between the 20K and 30K mats, where Beverly Hills is. And he could leisurely get from mat to mat, because there were half as many in 2014 as there are now. As far as I can tell, LA Marathon 2014 didn’t have any photographers at 20K, 30K or 40K.

So, with more cameras and more timing mats, the cheating gets harder, but his process has evidently evolved over time. I gotta hand it to Frank—what he has been doing is not easy from a purely logistical standpoint. Yeah, running a sub-3 marathon in your 60s is pretty damn hard, but what Frank has been doing in making it look like he's running sub-3 is hard, too.

We haven’t had any rabid Frank defenders on for awhile, so let me pick up the slack. With his stated over hydration issues could it be that he’s just peeing on the car?

Also, wondering if the Loyola coaches who invited Frank to speak to the team also threatened the students to keep their mouths shut or face some sort of punishment. Lots of the team probably are reading this thread, and it’s very suspicious that HS kids aren’t posting about it.

Other possibilities.. wrote:

We haven’t had any rabid Frank defenders on for awhile, so let me pick up the slack. With his stated over hydration issues could it be that he’s just peeing on the car?

Also, wondering if the Loyola coaches who invited Frank to speak to the team also threatened the students to keep their mouths shut or face some sort of punishment. Lots of the team probably are reading this thread, and it’s very suspicious that HS kids aren’t posting about it.

As already stated, I am a recent Loyola alum. There is no punishment for talking about FM's cheating. All of the kids are aware of it, all of the alums are aware of it. We are joking about it at this point with how much of a fraud he was and how we probably could have/should have put together that he was a fraud if we really thought about it. I believe the former supporters of him are going quiet because they had to face the facts of FM's cheating and are now realizing how they were wrong and should not have defended him.

Pretty outrageous for some to think an entire 60+ member high school team knew about an assistant coach's cheating and would be forced to hide it and keep it a secret. I don't know why or how he was let to go back and speak to everyone, but even then, he wasn't fooling the kids. After that appearance from him, he was completely removed from the team.

There’s enough to write articles every day for the next month.

Tomorrow, I want to get the point across that this has been going on a long time, and that he has cheated others for years.

I will show some of the better hi-res photos, not sure how in-depth I will go with the analysis.

While you all were were coming up with these amazing photos, I was analyzing splits from the known photos of Frank from multiple races. Eventually this will all piece together nicely. Like with the photos of him by the elites..the pace calculations hammer it home.

Since he has kept this to a few of the same races, it’s a bit easier to analyze, and less RD’s to contact.

Greg Chrisman wrote:

He’s not running Chicago because he isn’t registered, and registration closed last November. He would have to get a charity bib. You know that isn’t gonna happen. He better buy a home treadmill.

Again, incredible sleuthing.... there is no doubt still a treasure trove of evidence out there to be found. If FM were smart, he would capitulate, apologize etc and avoid the torrent of future cheating autopsies to come.

If deadesq were on the case in 2010-11, He would have found a Litton photo during a costume change or something.

Most entertaining cheat thread ever! Funny FM “ran” under the radar during the Litton investigation years while the spotlight was on KL.

He was never ever going to run Chicago and had no plans to run it even for a charity. Lie or delusional. I think another lie served up by the Meza in public and in semi-private statements to Loyola. Frank, keep it up buddy. I understand it's hard to keep track of all your lies and cheating. Sound familiar to a certain president who's running the country?

Agree..why was he allowed to spew more lies to the boys who attend there? What is going on with that school permitting this to continue? There are many Loyola alums who've gone onto successful athletic careers. Let's go fellas. Your school needs you. Frank IS the most --NOT MAYBE--one of the biggest cheats ever. Do you want the great legacy tarnished?

It does, and glad someone is willing to admit Obama and the Deep State have yet to relinquish control.

deadesq wrote:

He wore a blue t-shirt over his singlet, raising it just enough to show his number to a photographer just before this one, cover it up, and then tip his head down.

And then step off the course with his bib covered so as not to raise suspicion when he walks back to his...(car/e-bike/accomplice&car/mobility scooter/horse...)