When Mark Bomba accepted the head coaching role at Queen’s University in 2020, he inherited a men’s program that was decades removed from their last appearance on a national cross country podium. For the new head coach the climb back to the top of the mountain had to begin with a strong culture, and his top priority was identifying just one athlete 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. 

Less than 24 hours after the hiring announcement was made, an email from a keen Toronto-area highschooler named Roman Mironov appeared in the new coach’s inbox expressing his eagerness to run in the tri-colour kit of the Gaels; and Bomba knew he had his man.

5 years later, the men of Queen’s are now back-to-back USports National Champions, with Mironov himself scoring All-Canadian honours to assist the Gaels in both team victories and Bomba being named 2025 USports Men’s coach of the year. 

Fast approaching the end of his time as a student-athlete at Queen’s, it’s safe to say that the version of Queens varsity cross country that Mironov will leave behind is a far cry from the one he stepped into 5 seasons ago and that the culture he and his team spent years nurturing into a juggernaut shows no signs of slowing down.

Today on the Shakeout Podcast, we’re joined by Roman Mironov, the captain of the 2025 USports Men’s Cross Country Champion Queen’s Gaels and coach Mark Bomba to recap their dominant team victory last week in Sherbrooke and retrace the incredible arc of the program’s trajectory since 2020, culminating in back-to-back national titles.

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