Middleton, Fla. – The Villages High School athletics department announced Jacklyn Bollenback as the next head coach of its cross country program Friday in Middleton.

Bollenback, who previously served alongside outgoing VHS head coach James Probola in a volunteer role, will make her head coaching debut this fall for the Buffalo.

"It's really such an honor," Bollenback said. "I have a bunch of passion and energy coming in, and I definitely feel like multiple things have led me to this opportunity. It's all kind of fell into place and the doors to this program opened up, and it sort of felt like God told me to walk through them. I'm really excited for what's to come."

Bollenback assumes the point position of a VHS cross country program coming off a strong 2025 campaign, after the boys squad won three meets – including a district championship – and the girls team placed within the top five of four different events.

"We're looking forward to the new direction of our cross country program and we're excited to have Coach Bollenback take over," said VHS athletic director Richard Pettus. "Coach Probola ran a first-class program throughout the years and he will certainly be missed, but we're fortunate he'll remain close by."

More than a dozen members of the Buffalo cross country program recently traveled to North Carolina to train at a distance running camp, with Bollenback crediting both Probola and her VHS athletes for a foundational buy-in on the new head coach.

"It feels like this program is really coming together," Bollenback said. "I'm grateful to still be mentoring with Coach Probola and he's brought such great insight and wisdom, so I'm really hopeful we can make it a strong season. We had some really dedicated seniors go out, but we have a lot of incredible kids back and we're working really hard to come together."


Cody Hills can be reached for questions or comment via email at cody.hills@tvcs.org.