Current Athlete Feature: Renee Tomlin

Now in her senior year at Georgetown, Renee Tomlin has become a staple on Georgetown’s middle distance and distance relays. Last year, 2009, was a break out year for Renee. She won her first individual BIG EAST title indoors in the 1000m and was runner-up 800m outdoors. More impressive were some of her relay carries. She is a 5 time BIG EAST Champion, 4 of which are from the 4x800m relay, and also a 2 time ECAC Outdoor Champion in the 4x800m relay. She earned All-America honors at the NCAA Indoor Championships when she led off the school record DMR, running the 2nd fastest 1200 in school history helping the relay finish 5th. Only Suzanne Girard has run a faster 1200 relay carry.

Carrying her momentum from her great 1200 run she went to Penn Relays and helped the DMR to a runner-up finish, the 2nd fastest time in school history, and a personal best time for an 800 relay carry. The next day she was an instrumental part of the school record 4x1500m relay team that smashed old record and ran the 3rd fastest time ever in the world. It would have been an American and Collegiate record had not an incredible Tennessee team slipped ahead of the Hoyas. Renee made up ground, though, with her 4:16.7 split, which stands as the 2nd best in school history.

In the open 1500m Renee saw huge jumps and qualified for the NCAA Outdoor Championships along with teammates Maggie and Emily Infeld. The top 5 finishers in each event at the East Regional Championships automatically qualify for the NCAA Championships, and Renee was one of the three Hoyas to finish in the top 5!

After missing the 2009 cross country season due to injury Renee did not let it slow her down at all for the track season. She has already lowered her 1000 personal best and moved to #2 on the GU All-Time list. She also led off the 2nd best DMR in school history to automatically qualify for the NCAA Indoor Championships. With a few weeks to go in the indoor season and the whole outdoor season left, Renee is ready to make her mark on the national scene.

Personal Bests:
600m – 1:31.63
800m i – 2:08.51 #16 GU All-Time
800m – 2:06.80 #19 GU All-Time
800r i – 2:08.0 #14 GU All-Time
800r – 2:06.5 tie #10 GU All-Time
1000 – 2:44.46 #2 GU All-Time
1200r i – 3:22.8 #2 GU All-Time
1500r – 4:16.7 #2 GU All-Time
1500 – 4:18.46 #10 GU All-Time
Mile – 4:47.34 #19 GU All-Time
4x800m indoors #6 GU All-Time
DMR indoors School Record
DMR #2 GU All-Time
4x1500 School Record


Former Athlete Feature: Suzanne Girard

Suzanne Eberle (formerly Girard) accomplished a lot on the track in her time as a distance runner at Georgetown. What’s perhaps more impressive is that after over 25 years 5 of her school records still stand. She was also the first female Hoya to earn a BIG EAST individual title, winning the indoor 1000 in 1984 and the outdoor 5000 later that very year, which also earned her the outstanding performer of the meet award. The same year she was also a member of the winning 4x8 and DMR at the indoor championships. For Suzanne winning these races felt extra special because it was the BIG EAST Championships. She loved to race and loved “representing Georgetown in the ultra-competitive BIG EAST.” Being a Hoya “always meant all the BIG EAST Championships had an extra ‘edge’ to them”

While the BIG EAST races stand out in Suzanne’s memory, she has no single favorite race but simply loved competing in all of the disciplines from cross country to indoor and outdoor track and on to the roads. Her performances prove that she embraced all of these different seasons. She earned her first All-America honors by placing 12th at the NCAA Cross Country Championships in 1983. She followed it up with All-America honors in the indoor 3k at the 1984 Indoor Championships when she finished 4th. At the 1984 NCAA Outdoor Championships earned her 3rd and final All-America honors with her 3rd place finish in the 1500. All in all, Suzanne left the Hilltop as a 3 time All-America, a 4 time BIG EAST Champion, an ECAC champion, and many of the best distance performances in school history. Moreover, she was the 1983 winner of the Rev. Edmund Bunn Memorial Award as Georgetown’s outstanding cross country runner and also the winner of the James M. Gallagher Memorial award as Georgetown 1984 outstanding track and field competitor.

Besides all of her great memories from the track Suzanne also fondly recalls all of the memories she has with her teammates off of the track. The men’s and women’s team were close and together ate team meals, went to church, and socialized. She remembers, “traveling with the men’s team was special as I was often the only girl.” She got to spend time with her future husband, John, who was on the men’s team and formed bonds with the other men who became like brothers to her. Many of her memorable moments are from the time she spent training with team, sharing classes, studying together, and playing card with other team members.

Suzanne is now a board certified sports dietician and the author of sports nutrition book, “Endurance Sports Nutrition” – Second Edition. Besides her free-lance writing and speaking she is a nutrition therapist with her own private practice. As a former elite runner and now a nutritionist she advises current Hoyas to, “operate from a place of respect when it comes to your body – rest it, feed it, and treat it right.” She works with teens and adults of all shapes, sizes and athletic abilities who struggle with food, weight and exercise issues. However, best of all for her is that she “lives in Portland, Oregon with my husband John Eberle, my college sweetheart and former teammate, and we continue to run, cycle, hike, rock-climb and take on new challenges in life together.”


Personal Bests:
800r i – 2:07.9 #13 GU All-Time
800 – 2:05.91 #11 GU All-Time
1000 – 2:45.00 #4 GU All-Time
1200r i – 3:23.5yds School Record
1500 i – 4:14.50 School Record
1500 – 4:12.7 #3 GU All-Time
Mile r i – 4:41.3 #9 GU All-Time
Mile – 4:43.5 #2 GU All-Time
3000 i – 9:06.69 School Record
3000 – 9:06.0 School Record
5000 – 15:45.86 School Record