Chaney High’s Myke Parker is confident hard work with get him there.

Chaney High’s Myke Parker is confident hard work with get him there.

By JOE SCALZO

Vindicator sports staff

Chaney senior Myke Parker had three goals when he started the track season.

UMake it to the state meet.

UImprove his times.

UMake it to the state meet.

(And not necessarily in that order.)

“I’m pretty confident I can do it,” Parker said. “If I practice every day and work hard, it’ll pay off.”

He got a big boost on Saturday in Austintown when he won the 100-meter dash with a time of 11.05 and placed second in the 200 with a time of 22.19 at The Optimist, one of northeast Ohio’s premier regular season meets each year.

“I did pretty good in prelims and once I got to finals, I did what I had to do,” said Parker, who has struggled with a left hamstring injury in recent weeks. “It means a lot to do this well at this meet.

“I can’t wait to go to state.”

Parker’s father, Will, was a two-time state qualifier in the 400 and Myke is hoping to follow in his footsteps.

He ran a 49.37 in that event at last week’s Poland Invitational — way, way too fast to run a prelim, which is why he finished sixth in the final with a time of 53.64 — and that personal-best time would have been good enough to easily finish second at last year’s Division I regional meet.

Problem is, he never got the chance.

Parker scratched in the 400 to focus on the 4x100 — the event immediately preceding the 400.

But when Chaney’s anchor leg got hurt, the Cowboys’ relay chances ended. And since Parker had already scratched in the 400, he was stuck.

“It was pretty disappointing,” said Parker, who would also like to advance to Columbus in the 200. “But I love the event, even if it is very painful.”

Parker is a three-sport standout at Chaney, earning first team all-conference honors in football and second-team honors in basketball. The Cowboys didn’t win many games, but Parker took pride in how they competed.

“It was tough at times, but everyone still sticks together even when we’re down,” he said. “We’re team-oriented, even if we don’t have the best athletes.”

scalzo@vindy.com