LONG BEACH – Seventeen thousand five hundred runners toed the starting line at Saturday’s Long Beach Marathon and Half Marathon. Four broke the tape at the finish line. Amazingly, two are products of the increasingly fabled Chico State distance running program. Both have turned in qualifying times for the 2012 U.S. Olympic Trials.

Lindsay Nelson, a 2008 Chico State graduate, completely obliterated her competition while stopping the clock in 2:45:08, which is 52 seconds under the U.S. Olympic Trial qualifying time of 2:46. Her nearest competitor finished 22 minutes after her.

“That’s what I was (going for),” Nelson told the Daily Breeze newspaper. “ … but I was worried I wouldn’t hit it. I didn’t feel well (during the race. Usually I feel a lot better … but I kept consistent paces and pulled through.”

She had some help in fiancé and former Wildcat distance standout Tim Tollefson, who helped her come in under her goal of a 6:19 per-mile pace on an overcast morning. The route took runners on a winding 26.2-mile seaside path from downtown to Cal State Long Beach and back to Shoreline Village.

It was Nelson’s first marathon victory and her time was more than five minutes better than that of last year’s winner.

Serrano, meanwhile, who already qualifying for the trials with a half-marathon time of 1:04:20 at the Rock ‘n’ Roll – San Jose Half Marathon last October, won the Long Beach half marathon in a time of 1:05.11. The second-place finisher crossed the line nearly three minutes later.

Three former Wildcats have now qualified for the U.S. Olympic Trials in the marathon. Scott Bauhs’ 28:03.99 10,000-meter time at the Payton Jordan Cardinal Invitational in May qualifies him for the trials as well.