A new school year and another fall season means a new round of captains for the EHHS fall sports teams. This year, volleyball is led by senior Eve Backaus, cross-country by senior Liam Gilson, swimming by senior Diana Melnyk, and cheer by seniors Gianna Perciballi, Emily Leopardi, Filomena DiNuzzo, and Abrianna Duffy. While some teams selected captains at the end of last season—Backhaus was announced as captain by 2024-2025 captain Mia Abley at the team’s end-of-season banquet—some sports, like cheer, had tryouts for this season and announced captains just before the beginning of the season. Sometimes, the announcement is a lot more mellow; Gilson learned of his captaincy by seeing his name written on Coach Narracci’s whiteboard. Meanwhile, Melnyk was cemented as captain during the second week of practice this season through an announcement from the coach.

Captains are selected by coaches, but there may be a voting process where coaches consider the opinion of teammates, which is a strategy the volleyball team uses. Teams select captains for multiple reasons: to give some of the coaches responsibility to the athletes, to provide the team with another leader that is more personable, and to represent the team. Let’s learn more about the important leaders in our school community!

VOLLEYBALL: Eve Backhaus Brings the Chemistry

Eve has been playing volleyball for seven years total—all four years of high school, and also plays on travel teams. While she wasn’t drawn to volleyball initially, her dad encouraged her to join in middle school and since then, she’s been in love with the sport due to its speed, intensity, and emphasis on teamwork. However, her time on the court hasn’t always been smooth sailing. In junior year, Eve had to make a position switch after the team lost the only player at the setter position. “I learned how to set three days before Opening Day,” Eve reflected of her last season. “It was really tough…I felt like I wasn’t doing well, and I was really struggling with the idea of starting setter because I was like, this—I don’t do this normally…There’s new rules, new adjustments, new rotations, new everything. New mechanics, things that I’m not used to, that I all had to pick up in three days.”

“We literally made history,” Eve said. “We’ve had a great season so far. Obviously, we’ve had our wins and losses, but overall, our relationships are great, our chemistry is great, and I’m just really proud to say that I’m leading this team. I can’t even begin to tell you how excited I was… I’ve never been to a state tournament my whole time being here, so just knowing that I get the opportunity my last year here makes me really proud of everybody. I’m really proud of how much they’ve pushed…it just makes me proud because I can see how much everybody wants it and I know how much I want it.” It’s one thing for the captain to mention chemistry, but it’s another thing for a coach to see it amongst all teammates. “Eve will go out of her way to encourage the younger girls and build relationships with them, which makes them feel closer to the team in general,” Coach Diana Kalman said, who spoke about Eve’s positivity, outspokenness, and endless support of her teammates. “There’s a good mesh between the varsity girls building relationships with the JV girls, which is something we weren’t seeing in the last few years.”

Now that the girls have made states, Eve is determined to stay focused and achieve the team’s goals one step at a time. “We work hard, we put in the work, we beat all the teams that we’ve already beat, we beat them again,” she said fiercely, when discussing the road for the rest of the season. “We’ll make it to the SCC tournament, make it as far as we can in that…It’s going to be a new environment, but I think we’ll do okay. I think that if we stay positive and we keep the chemistry we’ve had…we do the best we can, and if we win, that’s great. We’ll go to the next one and we’ll give them the best that we can. And the same exact thing with states.”

CROSS-COUNTRY: Liam Gilson Gets Students Running in the Right Direction

The only second year captain on this list, Liam has been participating in cross country since junior year once he decided it would help him improve for track. A former basketball player, Liam transitioned into track and cross-country because he enjoyed the independence of the sport, and the better dynamic that comes from track, saying that he’s even friends with students he runs against in other schools. Liam is extremely passionate about track; a seasoned, four year runner, he was the clear option for Coach Narracci, who chooses who is to be captain. Narracci praised Liam’s talents, attributing his natural ability, academic success, and ability to take initiative and foster relationships with students as why he was chosen to lead the team.

“He just leads by example,” Narracci said. “He’s not a yeller, not a screamer…Kids are gonna follow people they believe in…if the kids don’t believe in that person, just because they’re a captain, they’re not gonna follow. So, he’s got some good leadership qualities, which goes over the past couple seasons, and [he] kind of just naturally fell into that role.” Liam’s passion and initiative carries into the offseason, where he states consistency as a big aspect of the sport; he hasn’t taken more than a week off from practicing in the last three years, and his improvement has shown.

However, consistency isn’t always easy. Liam’s four years at EHHS have been riddled with injury, including a hyperextended ankle in sophomore year, shin splints, and now, a mysterious injury that neither he nor trainers have been able to diagnose. Set to make a new PR (personal record) in a previous meet, Liam was ahead of the competition when halfway through, his calf muscle began to tighten and feel hot, and he managed to hobble to the finish line, losing the lead. While it’s unsure if Liam will be able to return to peak performance, he says nothing is going to stop him from running. “I’m gonna run,” Liam said plainly, stone-faced. “I think that, especially some of the underclassmen, they need to see you can still push through it. Even if you don’t PR or whatever, still being able to run is a blessing.”

Whether he’s on the track or not, Liam is determined to pass down his knowledge and goals to the underclassmen, as the small size of their team prevents them from moving onto SCCs. Helping with form and technique, along with developing a strong mentality, Liam is determined to leave behind a legacy that will benefit everybody. “My goal for this season is just being a team,” he said. “Get the underclassmen running in the right direction. Because once I leave, I need them to keep going on what I’ve wanted to do…Because what I might not accomplish, they could.”

GIRLS SWIMMING: Diana Melnyk Makes a Splash

Jumping in the pool for lessons as a kid along with her brother, Diana found her passion for swimming early. She has been a competitive swimmer since 6th grade, but quit competitive swim once she got to EHHS so as to focus on school swimming, which she’s done since freshman year. She felt that the environment had less pressure due to a shorter season, and felt that school swimming was more positive and enriching. “What draws me is my team members,” she said. “I like the way we can joke around half the time but also be serious about the set the other half.”

Diana is a sprinter-style swimmer, and mostly does the 100 meter backstroke, which she got first place for in the past two meets. Diana discovered she was captain during the second week of practice, where the coach made a formal announcement. Diana plans to use her captaincy to help everyone improve, both in the pool and in class, despite the fact that she is one of two EHHS students on the team that is co-op with Sacred Heart Academy and New Haven Public Schools. “Our season is missing out seniors from the past two seasons,” Diana said, “but we all have a strong bond and are powering through getting quicker in each meet. Our goals for the team this season are to just keep improving our mentality and believing in ourselves, that we can accomplish whatever we put our effort into.”

Last season, Diana dealt with a quick stint of pneumonia that kept her out of states and state finals, but she didn’t let that keep her from being happy for the other girls or working towards getting back there again. Diana said, “I brought it upon myself to work twice as hard since I missed so much last year, and now I’m swimming faster.”

CHEERLEADING: Filomena DiNuzzo, Abriana Duffy, Emily Leopardi, and Gianna Perciballi Are All Cheering You On

Having been cheering for 11 years (she started in second grade), Mena has been on the cheer team all throughout high school. Mena started out as a dancer, and when her sister began cheering for the town, Mena followed. Mena is a base on the squad, which is one of the girls who lifts the other cheerleaders. 

An All-Star cheerleader for nine years, and an EHHS cheerleader for 4, Gianna also had a previous stint with dance before she was drawn to cheer through acrobatics classes—and once she found herself doing acrobatics in her free time, she knew it was time to dedicate herself to the other sport. Gianna is a tumbler, which means that she primarily does individual tricks in routines. 

A cheerleader of 11 years, Emily knows all about the passion and intensity needed to energize a cheer squad. Emily also did Youth Program Cheer for the town as a kid, and has stuck with the sport ever since. Emily is a flier, a girl who gets lifted into the air, and has been on the team since freshman year. 

While she only started cheering in her junior year, Abriana is a dancer of 6 years who played a prominent role in her studio when she helped teach the younger girls their routines. Abriana transitioned to cheer two years ago, and has since become a kind of all-around cheerleader. Together, the girls each add a different aspect to the team: the girls agree that Mena brings laughter and fun to the squad (“She’s definitely the funniest on the team,” Gianna said. Mena then replied, “I feel like if you’re coming to practice, you need to be very serious and know what you’re doing and pay attention, but, on our downtime, let’s all laugh.”); they then attributed the team’s competitiveness to Gianna’s grit and determination; Emily brings passion and energy to the team; and Abriana unites the team with her friendship and welcoming attitude.

The girls reflected on last year’s season, noting a disconnect with coaching, a lack of passion and motivation—Emily almost didn’t come back this season because of it, but stayed because of her fellow captains’ constant begging—a bit of drama, and how the girls weren’t allowed to branch out into different positions and roles. Now, the girls have learned from past mistakes and created a stress-free environment where they encourage the girls to try new things and have structured the practices to their liking (it’s not any easier, don’t worry), finding that the team is better for it.

Their goal for the year is to come up no shorter than last year, where they tied North Haven High School for first place in the Southern Connecticut Conference. Gianna spoke of past captain Kolby Nastri, whom she said helped the girls develop a strong work ethic that allowed them to not only make it to states, but helped get them the captain position. “Everybody has the same drive,” Gianna said, to which Mena replied, “I feel like we all strive for [their goal of winning SCCs]. We don’t stop until it’s there. Even if we’re dead—no, get up.” After a bit of complacency after the girls won states, this year’s captains are making sure that the team brings it all the way home. “Our lessons came from that,” Mena said. “Just practice every day, and don’t just think, we made it here, now we don’t have to do anything. We still have to work and be better.”

And while it might seem like communication would be difficult between four people, the girls handle it with grace and efficiency; they’re easily able to talk through situations and make sure that everyone takes responsibility when handling a problem. Together, the girls have taken the underclassmen under their wing, and have made sure to create a fun, positive environment that keeps everyone engaged, motivated, and in love with the sport. “I feel like it was hard being a captain this year because last year there was this idea and a lot of kids didn’t want to come back to the team based on things that happened last year,” Mena said. “I feel like it was hard for us to help show them it changed, and [it was hard] to change their attitudes from negative to positive. I feel like that’s the hardest part, trying to help them see the difference this year.” So far, they’ve done a great job in terms of bringing positivity, bringing back the students’ love for the sport, making cheer a safe space to turn to, and strengthening friendships—ask them what their country names are! Maybe one of these days, you’ll run into Jeanine, Heather, Mary, or Jolene.

This year’s EHHS fall sports captains have overcome it all: new positions, mysterious injuries, unenthusiastic environments, and sicknesses that kept them out of finals. Despite that, they put their all into their sport, creating a new positive environment for each of their respective teams, and nothing is going to keep them from being the best captains they can be.  Now that you’ve been introduced to our cross-country, volleyball, and swimming captains, Part 2 will introduce you to the football, cheer, and girls and boys soccer captains. Until then, go support our captains and teams in person! Their passion, determination, and positive impact on our school’s community deserves to be recognized.