Fairhope seniors Cooper Brechman and Lena Amare, as well as Gulf Shores senior Liam Bickham, all claimed gold medals with first-place finishes at the Alabama High School Athletic Association’s Swimming State Championships in Auburn last weekend.

Seven more individuals and two relay teams also returned to Baldwin County with hardware after podium finishes with top-three spots in their races.

The Gulf Shores Dolphins led the medal count with 7 total between 2 golds, 2 silver and 3 bronze and they were followed closely by the Fairhope Pirates’ 5 total between 3 golds, 1 silver and 1 bronze. The Daphne Trojans earned 2 silvers and both Bayshore Christian and St. Michael Catholic took home 2 bronze medals.

Podium finishes

Brechman won the 1-meter dive for Fairhope with a score of 404.65 which was good enough for a 49-point advantage over the second-place finisher.

Amare collected her third consecutive double gold and finished her Pirate career as the three-time defending champion in the 100-yard free. She added a second gold medal in the 200-yard individual medley and was also up for Seacrest Furniture Athlete of the Week.

Bickham similarly took home two more gold medals after he was part of record-breaking relay teams from Gulf Shores at last year’s state meet. This year, he finished first in the 100-yard backstroke and 100-yard butterfly to earn another spot in the Seacrest Furniture Athlete of the Week contest.

Junior Gavin Cobb joined Bickham on the podium with a silver medal in the 100-yard backstroke and classmate Gray Bias also took second in the 500-yard free.

Sophomore Hope Moyers earned a bronze medal from the 50-yard free and was also part of third-place relay teams in the 200-yard medley relay and 400-yard free relay alongside Ally Midkiff, Eleanore Flaig and Emma Lloyd.

Daphne junior Dane Goodman earned two medals with a runner-up finish in the 100-yard backstroke and a third-place finish in the 100-yard butterfly. Similarly, Fairhope senior Noah Greer earned a silver in the 500-yard free and a bronze in the 200-yard free.

Both Bayshore Christian junior Suzanne Rainer and St. Michael senior Trey Bauldin took home double bronze. Rainer took third in the 100-yard butterfly and the 200-yard individual medley and Bauldin finished third in the 100-yard backstroke and the 100-yard butterfly.

Team results

On the Class 1A-5A stage, the boys’ team from Gulf Shores earned a Red Map trophy as state runners-up and the Dolphin girls’ squad finished fourth in the team competition. Both finishes mirrored last year’s results.

Both Fairhope squads registered eighth-place finishes in the Class 6A-7A team competitions and both St. Michael teams finished in the top 15 of the Class 1A-5A meet where the girls’ team earned 12th and the boys’ team took 13th.

The Spanish Fort boys’ team finished 10th, the Bayshore Christian girls’ team registered 11th and the Orange Beach boys’ team was 17th overall. Squads from Daphne took 14th (boys’) and 16th (girls’) respectively.