{"id":150664,"date":"2025-11-17T07:30:34","date_gmt":"2025-11-17T12:30:34","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/runningmagazine.ca\/?p=150664"},"modified":"2025-11-17T12:39:42","modified_gmt":"2025-11-17T17:39:42","slug":"queens-cross-country-captain-roman-mironov-and-coach-mark-bomba-recap-the-gaels-repeat-usports-team-title","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/runningmagazine.ca\/shakeout-podcast\/queens-cross-country-captain-roman-mironov-and-coach-mark-bomba-recap-the-gaels-repeat-usports-team-title\/","title":{"rendered":"Queen’s University XC captain and coach recap repeat U Sports title"},"content":{"rendered":"

When Mark Bomba<\/strong> accepted the head coaching role at Queen\u2019s University in 2020, he inherited a men\u2019s program that was decades removed from their last appearance on a national cross country podium. For Bomba, the climb back to the top of the mountain had to begin with a strong culture, and his top priority was identifying<\/span> just one athlete<\/span> who would buy into the team-first ethos he was trying to build and serve as a pillar for the team in years to come. <\/span><\/p>\n

Less than 24 hours after the hiring announcement was made, an email from a keen Toronto-area high-schooler named Roman Mironov<\/strong> appeared in the new coach\u2019s inbox, expressing his eagerness to run in the tri-colour kit of the Gaels, and Bomba knew he had his man.<\/span><\/p>\n

Five years later, the men of Queen\u2019s are now back-to-back U Sports national champions, with Mironov himself scoring all-Canadian honours to assist the Gaels in both team victories and Bomba being named 2025 U Sports men\u2019s coach of the year. <\/span><\/p>\n

Fast approaching the end of his time as a student-athlete at Queen\u2019s, it\u2019s safe to say that, for Mironov, the version of Queen’s varsity cross country he’ll leave behind is a far cry from the one he stepped into five seasons ago, and that the culture he and his team spent years nurturing into a juggernaut shows no signs of slowing down.<\/span><\/p>\n

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A post shared by Queen’s Gaels (@queensgaels)<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/blockquote>\n