As 2025 comes to a close, we’re taking a moment to revisit some of the stories that resonated most across Mountain Brook. These aren’t just top clicks or biggest headlines — they’re pieces that captured something real about the people, places and moments that defined the year.
Photo by Savannah Schmidt.
Carlee Petro holds her tennis racket at Pine Tree Country Club in Birmingham, Alabama on Dec. 21, 2024. Petro will take the place of the retired Mountain Brook High School boys and girls tennis coach Susan Farlow. Photo by Savannah Schmidt.
Perfect timing might be an understatement when it comes to Carlee Petro’s coaching career, which has brought her full circle to coaching at both her college and high school alma maters.
Petro was named the new tennis coach at Mountain Brook High School in July 2024, taking over for longtime coach Susan Farlow. Farlow led Mountain Brook’s teams to 18 state championships in 17 years, and she expressed excitement about Petro’s potential to bring a fresh perspective and technical expertise to help students enhance their skills.
“It was just the perfect timing for her to come over and take over for me,” Farlow said. “I could not feel more confident in handing over the reins to someone like her, because I know she's a good person, number one. I know she's a great tennis player, and she's also a coach. She's been teaching lessons for a long time, and that was just something that was not my strong point. I never even played tennis in college. I was a good amateur player, but I was not trained like she is. So she could look at a kid and go, ‘Oh, you need to move your forehand around, or you need to turn your wrist.’ She knows the game technically as well as strategically.”
A 2014 graduate of Mountain Brook High, Petro was a standout athlete on Farlow’s team. She was named the 2014 U.S. Tennis Association Alabama Female Junior Player of the Year and won the 2013 USTA Alabama Elaine Frances Junior Excellence Award. She also swept the 2013 Alabama State Closed Girls 18-and-under singles, doubles and mixed doubles tournaments.
Petro won back-to-back high school state titles at No. 2 singles in 2011 and 2012, as well as a 2011 state title at No. 2 doubles with former teammate Sara Cohen.
While she originally wasn’t planning to continue her athletic career, Petro opted to play collegiate tennis at Birmingham-Southern College after graduation. Her journey at BSC is a testament to her commitment to excellence, both as an athlete and a coach. A standout player for the Panthers, Petro competed under legendary head coach Ann Dielen and played a pivotal role on the women’s tennis team during her collegiate career.
She was ranked as high as No. 42 in the country and played out of the No. 1 singles and doubles spots her entire career. Petro amassed more than 50 singles wins during her time on the Hilltop and is one of the winningest players in BSC women’s tennis history.
A Birmingham, Alabama, native, Petro was named Southern Athletic Association Newcomer of the Year after her first season. She went on to earn SAA Player of the Year honors and first-team all-conference nods the next three consecutive years. Before graduating in 2018, Petro had not lost a singles match in conference play since 2016, boasting a 24-2 career record at the No. 1 singles position in the SAA.
After earning a degree in psychology, Petro’s relationship with the program came full circle in 2018, when she was named head coach of the BSC women’s tennis team at just 22 years old. Taking the reins from Dielen, who coached the Panthers for 41 years, Petro faced the challenges of leading a collegiate program at an unusually young age. Despite her limited experience at the time, she leaned on her knowledge as a former player and the principles she developed under Dielen’s guidance.
“I had enough knowledge from my own game and working with kids as a basis for coaching,” Petro said. “But it was really at Birmingham-Southern where I kind of learned through trial and error, and my players had a lot of faith in me, which gave me faith in myself.”
Petro spent six seasons as head coach before BSC closed its doors in May 2024. She fostered a culture of growth and perseverance, guiding her players both on and off the court, emphasizing fundamentals, strategy and personal development. Despite the closure, she quickly found her next opportunity.
“I was devastated with the loss of Birmingham-Southern, and I had reached out to Farlow, I guess maybe the first year that BSC was kind of on the rocks. Because the only thing about [college coaching] that I didn’t love was recruiting,” Petro said. “And I was like, Mountain Brook always has such great players that come through the school system. How cool would it be to be able to grow kids but not have to recruit them.”
Farlow initially told Petro she had a few more years of coaching left. But by the time BSC officially closed and Petro reached out again, Farlow had decided to retire and recommended that Petro contact Mountain Brook High athletic director Andy Urban. Petro immediately expressed her interest in the role, setting the stage for her return to Mountain Brook.
“It couldn't be a more special or blessed feeling. It just feels so at home and familiar,” Petro said. “I feel like I have a lot of perspective from being a player. So I'm excited to take the way Farlow did things and put a spin on it, because she ran things, obviously, so well. She was so successful, but I can't wait to come in with a fresh perspective.”
In addition to her experience as a player and college coach, Petro has worked for several years as an assistant tennis pro at Pine Tree Country Club. She already knows many of Mountain Brook’s players and has the opportunity to work with them year-round, though high school rules limit her to two hours of weekly instruction outside of official school practices during the academic year.
Photo by Savannah Schmidt.
Petro will take the place of the retired Mountain Brook High School boys and girls tennis coach Susan Farlow. Photo by Savannah Schmidt.
Entering her first season at Mountain Brook, Petro plans to emphasize technical skills and strategy, particularly footwork, balance and doubles-specific instruction.
“Junior tennis as a whole, there's not a lot of doubles-specific instruction, just because these other non-team competitions are for singles for the most part. But doubles is equally important in a high school scoring system,” Petro said. “But these kids don't know how to specifically play doubles, because it's not really taught very often. So my goal, coming in, is to teach these juniors how to really play doubles instead of just playing singles with four people on the court.”
The Mountain Brook girls’ team has won seven consecutive state championships, while the boys have claimed titles in the last two seasons. However, the girls’ team is entering this season without five of last season’s top six players, while the boys’ team boasts several returning seniors and a standout freshman.
Petro is preparing her teams for tough competition on a schedule that began in late January. In their division, UMS-Wright Preparatory Academy is expected to be their biggest challenge. Beyond their division, teams like Vestavia Hills, Chattanooga’s McCallie School and Girls Preparatory School are likely to test their mettle.
While Petro is eyeing another state championship ring, she says her priority is player development, on and off the court.
“My most favorite part of it all is just like being a mentor to these kids,” Petro said. “Helping them become better players is great. But helping them be their best self, become better people in the process is important. I didn't have the best experiences early on with my private coach, and that has kind of motivated me to be the best mentor or coach that I can be for younger people.”
