Creating an environment and winning culture takes time, and the Gaels Cross Country team is seeing this at its full potential.
Another successful Cross-Country season, including a first-place finish for both men and women at the OUA championships, and a USports Championship for the men, has all led to Head Coach Mark Bomba adding Men’s Coach of the Year for the second year in a row, to his accolades. An already accomplished athlete and coach before he came to Queen’s in 2020, Bomba has now won back-to-back OUA coach of the year and USports Men’s coach recognitions.
In an interview with The Journal, Bomba was remissive about the honours themselves but more about what it means for Queens and the community. “I hope we’ve made an impact, but for me it’s a byproduct of the job that the athletes do when they go into competition,” he said.
Cross Country isn’t like most sports, where coaches have the opportunity to adjust mid-game. Bomba emphasized that when coaching, he has to “take a more philosophical approach,” meaning that during training and practice, the athletes and he have to be proactive because of the nature of the competition. As a result of this, Bomba explained that as an athlete, you learn to be “more independent and overcoming barriers” that can be applied in races.
Bomba’s equally excited for the Distance Track season, which he also is the Head Coach for, and the team is set for meets in Utica, Montreal (at McGill), Cornell University, Boston University, Harvard, and Toronto. Many of the Cross-Country team are set to compete on the Distance Track team, including Roman Miranov Comm ‘25 and Jude Wheeler-Dee ArtSci ’25, who are in their last competition season.
The team will look to make it to the USports championship held in Winnipeg, Manitoba, in March.
Tags
cross country, Head Coach Mark Bomba, USports Men’s coach recognitions
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