Just like every other senior at Cheshire High, Tim Covel is looking forward to the Rams' graduation ceremony and getting his diploma on Friday.
Graduation will signal the end of a successful academic career at the high school for Covel and will also signal the end of a successful athletic career, although that athletic experience was unlike most other Rams.
Covel, considered one of the hardest working athletes and an exceptional leader, enjoyed success while also dealing with Type 1 Diabetes. Covel was a receiver and defensive end on the football team, center/power forward and captain on the basketball team and defender on the boys lacrosse team.
"I was diagnosed with Type 1 (juvenile) Diabetes in sixth grade," Covel said. "I wear an insulin pump on my hip that administers insulin into a cite that I insert into my stomach and hip area. Depending on what my blood sugar is and what I eat determines how much insulin I get.
"I test my blood sugar using a different device roughly 15-20 times a day. My target blood sugar is 140 for when I play. It's had a huge effect on my sports career."
Covel said if his blood sugar is out of range his level of play drops drastically and his chance for injury goes up.
"I carb count everything. I eat to help avoid that as much as possible during games," Covel said. "It has only happened a handful of times in games. It is just something I have to keep control of. It will effect me in college as well, but my training staff will help me out when it gets hard."
Covel led the Rams boys lacrosse team to an 8-10 record and they advanced to the first round of the CIAC Class L tournament. His speed and communication skills were strengths in leading the Rams' transition game from the defensive zone to midfield to offensive attack.
"Tim is an excellent student athlete and his leadership abilities were a huge part of our success this season," Cheshire boys lacrosse coach Rich Pulisciano said. "Tim is a three-sport athlete. Kids look up to Tim. Being a captain is always tough, but Tim was fair not only with his senior peers but the underclassmen as well.
"He’s a great kid with a great attitude. When he stepped on the field it was all business. No matter if it was practice or a game, Tim was always ready to go. Tim’s work ethic rises to the top in everything he does. He will be missed not only by our coaching staff but the kids in this school."
Covel also provided some offense from his defender position in lacrosse with five goals and 10 assists.
Recently, Covel was presented with school's highest honor for a male athlete and named the 2013 Cheshire High Outstanding Male Athlete.
Covel was also named first All-Southern Connecticut Conference, named to the All-SCC Academic Team and an Academic All-American in football. He will play lacrosse and study economics at Connecticut College.

It’s been a busy time for Tim Belcher, named new Notre Dame-West Haven boys hockey coach on Friday.
Emotions have been running high, he has been deluged with emails, texts and calls from well-wishers and he is already looking ahead to the challenge of taking on his ultimate dream job.
“I’ve been swamped,” said Belcher, a former Notre Dame player who coached the Lyman Hall boys hockey team the last 13 seasons. “This experience the last few days, getting your dream coaching job, it’s been an unbelievable feeling, I’ll tell you that.
“I am looking forward to the challenge. Fortunately I was at Lyman Hall and experienced each level of competition going from Division I to Division II and then last season in Division III. This is definitely a jump up for me. I go from a team of 14 total roster players last season to an elite Notre Dame team where 50-60 kids try out every year.”
Belcher said the entire interview process took about a month. After sending in his initial application and resume, he had his first interview on Monday, a second interview Wednesday and was offered the position on Thursday.
“I signed the contract right then and there on Thursday,” Belcher said. “Being an alumnus likely helped me. But I was upfront during the interview. I told them I was an intense person, I was passionate about being successful but also with having fun in the sport. I also have a disciplinary philosophy.”
Belcher graduated from Notre Dame-West Haven in 1993 and during the 1992-93 season helped the Green Knights win a CIAC Division I title. He went on to play at Quinnipiac University where graduated in 1997 and that fall became an assistant boys hockey coach at Lyman Hall. He became the head coach at Lyman Hall for the 2000-01 season.
Belcher becomes the first Notre Dame boys hockey coach to be a former Green Knights player and he also sees that as a positive in taking over the program.
“I’m going to be able to relate to the players on a more personal level,” Belcher said. “I actually went through what they are going through. I know about the stresses at Notre Dame when it comes to balancing academic success and success on the hockey team.
“Academic success is very important and I am well versed in the ways to help players fall in line faster to make that balancing act work and be a positive experience.”
Belcher replaces Bill Gerosa who retired after last season after coaching the team the last 15 seasons.
“I haven’t had a chance to talk with coach Gerosa yet,” Belcher said. “But he was a great teacher in the classroom and on the ice. He gave a lot to the sport of hockey.”
Belcher has volunteered to help Lyman Hall officials in their search for a new coach but there is no specific timetable to make that selection. There will likely be an in-house search and then candidates outside the Lyman Hall school system will be considered.
“I’ve been out of Notre Dame for 20 years and I’ve been coaching 16 of those years at Lyman Hall,” Belcher said. “It was a great experience with great support from the people there. Their program is going to grow the next few years and it will be a great place for someone to coach boys hockey.
“I always said the only way I would leave Lyman Hall is if my dream job at Notre Dame ever became available, and it did. I’m a very fortunate person.”

What were the best moments you remember from the past school year in the Southern Connecticut Conference? The top performances?

Click the link below to vote for your favorites. Voting ends on June 27.

http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/8KXR3LW

Foran's Bradley Orban won his second straight State Open tennis title on Thursday. Check out Jim Fuller's story on the junior's ability to repeat.

Inclement weather has already moved both Friday and Saturday's CIAC softball finals, along with Friday's CIAC baseball final, to Sunday.
Friday's Class LL softball final between Mercy and Southington is now Sunday at 4 p.m. at DeLuca Field in Stratford. The Class M final between Granby and Waterford is now Sunday at 4:30 p.m. at West Haven High's Biondi Field.
Saturday's Class L final between Foran and Masuk opens Sunday's action at DeLuca Field at 1 p.m. Class S between Oxford and Terryville is at Biondi Field Sunday at 1.
Friday's Class S baseball final between Oxford and Cromwell will now be Sunday at 3:45 p.m. at Palmer Field in Middletown. Decisions on all three of Saturday finals will be made by 9 a.m. Saturday.
All of the CIAC girls lacrosse finals at Bunnell Saturday have been pushed back one hour, beginning with Haddam-Killingworth vs. Weston at 11 a.m. The CIAC Class S boys lacrosse final between St. Joseph and Weston at McMahon has been pushed back to 6 p.m. Saturday.