He put graduate school aside, packed his Suzuki SX4 and drove to Boulder, Colo., this summer to live the athlete's dream of training full time. She kept to her roots and took an assistant coaching job at her college, worked out with the team and started a second degree in nursing. They may have taken different paths but the end result was the same. Tyler McCandless, a Northampton and Penn State grad, and Christa Plummer, a Palisades and La Salle University alumna, both 24, have qualified for the 2012 U.S. Olympic Marathon Trials in their first attempts over the 26.2-mile distance. The men's and women's races will be held Jan. 14, 2012, in Houston. McCandless, a former PIAA Class 3A cross country medalist, ran 2:17.22 at the California International Marathon on Sunday in Sacramento to meet the men's qualifying standard of 2:19:00. He finished sixth overall. "The last quarter mile I entered the crowds near the finish line and was pumping my fist to them because I knew I had achieved well under the qualifier," McCandless said.