ROCHELLE – A year ago, Corey Hartz sat in the bleachers in support of his Sterling track teammates, agonized that he wasn’t out there running with them at the sectional meet.

He made up for all that lost time Thursday. After missing last season, Hartz returned to the track with a vengeance at the Class 2A Rochelle Sectional, qualifying for state in all four of his events to lead a large contingent of Golden Warriors to Charleston.

“That’s the really remarkable thing,” said Sterling coach Denny Hartz, Corey’s uncle. “When an athlete has to sit out between his sophomore and senior seasons, a lot of times they won;t even go out for track as seniors. But that’s just not Corey’s style. He kept involved, kept working and training hard, and the way he came back tonight is a real tribute to the athlete and person he is.”

Corey Hartz, who qualified for the state meet in the 100 as a sophomore and the 200 as a freshman, gave up a chance to make it downstate in all three sprints. He won the sectional title in the 100 (11.06 seconds) and took second in the 400 (49.07), setting a new school record in the event for the third time this season.

But instead of running the 200, he opted to run the anchor leg in the 400 relay (43.08) and the leadoff leg in the 1,600 relay (3:21.74), helping both of those teams qualify for state and setting another school record in the 1,600 relay.

“To qualify in just one event is really good,” Corey Hartz said, “but four events ... that’s tough for me to process. I knew coming in it would be a high level of competition, and it’s such a great feeling to know I’ll have a busy day next Friday [in the preliminaries] ... that’s all you can ask for.

“Missing last year was a really hard period for me, but to be able to accomplish this in my last go-round as a senior. I just wanted to make the most of it, and once I got that adrenaline pumping, it just kept me going.”

Hartz joined Alex Rodriguez and Kyle Mason on both the 400 and 1,600 relays, with Bryan Commisso running a leg on the 400 relay and Alejandro Rivera a leg on the 1,600 relay. Mason, Rivera, Rodriguez and Commisso also qualified in the 800 relay (1:30.26), and Rivera teamed with Aaron Brenner, Robert Clifton and Dylan Harkness to make it in the 3,200 relay (8:05.20).

It’s Mason’s second time at state, after taking part, with Hartz, in the 1,600 relay team that ran in Charleston in 2009. This time, he’ll run in three relays on O’Brien Field’s blue track.

“Last year was kind of an off year for me,” Mason said, “but to step up as a senior and be part of all these state-qualifying times in almost unreal. I’m really happy for the other guys even more than myself, and we’re going to go down there next week and have an awesome, fun time – because that’s what it’s all about.”

Rivera will also run in three relays next week, a feat even more impressive when one considers he played baseball the past two springs and hasn’t run track since eighth grade.

“It’s really exciting to be back in this sectional atmosphere, and I really got that great feeling again tonight,” Rivera said. “To be a part of something that takes four people to do well, not just one guy by himself, it just makes it that much more special.”

“We always try and qualify relays; it’s our top priority every year,” coach Hartz said. “To find that right combination is tough, but to do it in all four tonight is a pretty big deal – in fact, none of us remembers the last time that’s happened here at Sterling.”