By Rubin E. Grant
Carlee Petro didn’t list winning a state championship as her first priority in her first season as Mountain Brook’s tennis coach. “Obviously winning state was a hope and goal throughout the season, but really my biggest goal was to help these kids improve throughout the season, which would help contribute to wins at state,” Petro says. “It was so fun to watch these kids grow as players of the game this year.”
The Spartans didn’t just grow their game, they hoisted two more state championship trophies. Mountain Brook’s boys and girls swept the 2025 Class 6A titles in the 80th AHSAA State Tennis Championships April 21-22 at the Mobile Tennis Center.
The Spartans increased their combined boys’ and girls’ state tennis crowns to 64 with the dominating wins. Mountain Brook’s girls totaled 69 points to beat runner-up UMS-Wright (48) by 21 points. With the title, the Spartans girls now have won eight consecutive state crowns and 35 overall. The Mountain Brook boys totaled 81 points with runner-up Jasper totaling 53 to earn their third straight title and 29th overall.
For Petro, the titles were special, considering she was hired last summer to replace her former coach Susan Farlow, who led Mountain Brook’s teams to 18 state championships in 17 years before retiring at the end of the 2024 season.
A 2014 Mountain Brook graduate, Petro won back-to-back high school state titles at No. 2 singles in 2011 and 2012 with Farlow at the helm. “I’m extremely excited to keep the winning streak going and continue Farlow’s legacy,” Petro says. “I had a great group of kids on both sides—lots of talent, but also great people and hard workers. It was so fun to see how bad they wanted the state title, and how hard they worked to see it through.”
The Spartans boys won all six singles titles with Thomas Austin claiming the No. 1 singles crown with a 6-1, 6-2 win over Northridge’s Will Thorn in the final. “Winning the state title at No. 1 singles has been a dream of mine since my seventh-grade junior high team,” Austin says. “Finally achieving that goal is just unbelievable. All my hard work and dedication on the court has paid off. And to top it off, being part of a team that secured three consecutive state championships makes my high school experience even better, and sharing this success with my teammates has been special.”
Quint Freeman posted a 6-0, 6-1 win over McGill-Toolen’s Charlie Kidder to win at No. 2. The Spartans’ other singles winners were Hews Goodson at No. 3, Max Gayden at No. 4 Tony Sciara at No. 5 and Karna Palaniappan at No. 6.
“On the boys’ side, we were consistently pretty steady all year,” Petro says. “Thomas Austin worked past some frustration within his own game, and it was really fun to see him take home the trophy at No. 1. Quint Freeman and Hews Goodson also pulled out close some close matches at state, which could have flipped the script had their results gone differently.”
In doubles, the Spartans won two of the three titles. Austin and Sciara blanked Jasper’s Hayes Hopkins and Heath Hartley 6-0, 6-0 to win at No. 2. Freeman and Farley Nunnelley won No. 3, defeating Jasper’s Ethan Thorne and Zeke Tuggle 6-1, 6-3.
Mountain Brook’s girls won the No. 2, 3, 5 and 6 singles titles and the No. 3 doubles title. Olivia Roberts earned the No. 2 singles title with a 6-0, 6-4 win over Homewood’s Vivi Evans; Leslie Mitchell won No. 3; Mary Margaret Malatesta won No. 5 and Sarah Still won No. 6.
Mitchell and Still defeated Hartselle’s Katie Sloan and Brooklyn Engle 6-3, 6-3 to win No. 3 doubles. Ann Royal Goodson was a semifinalist in No. 1 singles, and Kelcie Dowling finished as the runner-up in No. 4 singles. Roberts and Goodson were runners-up at No. 1 doubles, while Dowling and Malatesta reached the final in No. 2 doubles.
“On my girls side, we had lost five of our top six players (to graduation) going into this year,” Petro says. “They were the underdogs, and I think there was some doubt within the community as to if they could pull it off. They really proved everyone wrong this year, and I could not be more proud of the work they put in to do it.”
Goodson was almost in disbelief that the Spartans’ girls won state again. “It was surreal,” she says. “I could never have guessed we’d win state all four years I was on the team. It has been the best part of my high school years.”
Both Austin and Goodson were overjoyed to be a part of Petro’s first state championship teams. “It’s incredibly impressive to win state as a first-year coach,” Austin says. “From day one, all the players knew we were going to have to work harder in practice—probably more than some people wanted—but it paid off. She brought intensity to the court every day. I’m excited for what Coach Petro will do for the future of Mountain Brook tennis.”
Goodson says, “I am so happy for her and this exciting new chapter, and I’m thankful I was a part of starting it off with another state title.”
