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.

The Connecticut Field Hockey Coaches Association is hosting two all-star games this Thursday at Cheshire High's turf field.

There will be a Junior Select game at 5:30 p.m with top junior field hockey players from across the state competing. At 7 p.m. there will be the annual, Senior All-Star game, which consists of all senior field hockey players who earned Connecticut High School Coaches Association First Team all-state honors for the 2012 season. 

Hamden field hockey coach Tina Bouchard and Haddam-Killingworth coach Patsy Kamercia will be two of the coaches for the Senior game.

Saturday is going to be a big day for Cheshire High sports with the Rams hosting a tripleheader of events.
No. 2 Cheshire hosts No. 7 Hand at 3:30 p.m. in the Southern Connecticut Conference girls' soccer tournament quarterfinals.
No. 1 Cheshire hosts No. 8 Sacred Heart Academy at 3 p.m. in the SCC field hockey tournament quarterfianls.
Cheshire hosts East Haven in a varsity football game at the Rams' turf field at 6:30 p.m.

The Cheshire Town Council chambers should be rocking tonight with one of the high profile issues in town on the agenda - refurbishing the boys' locker room at Cheshire High.
It has been determined that a separate outdoor lockerroom should be built and the Town Council will be voting on whether to move this project forward as a referendum item tonight at 7:30.
The new facility would house male and female lockerrooms and also meet the requirements of the American with Disabilities Act (ADA) set forth by the state.
Along with the lockerrooms, the new building could have a new concession stand, new public bathrooms, athletic storage, new press box, new coaches office and athletic trainer's office.

CHESHIRE - The Cheshire football team will make its debut on its new turf field on Thursday against Southington at 10 a.m. School and town officials will be on hand for a kickoff ceremony for the turf that will begin at 9:20 a.m. prior to the annual Thanksgiving Day game.
Expected to take part in the celebration are Cheshire Superintendent of Schools Greg Florio, Cheshire High athletic director Steve Trifone, state Representative Mary Fritz, Turf Committee Chairman Bob Behrer and Cheshire Town Councilman Tim Slocum.
The official dedication of the field will take place next year when the construction is completed. Trifone said the new track surrounding the field is about 90percent colete and is expected to be done by Saturday. There is also a brick walkway with names of the project donors listed on each brick that needs to be installed as well.

Karl Sundquist of Prospect is pumped up.
Sundquist, who coached boys’ hockey at Avon for 14 years, has been named the new boys’ hockey coach at Cheshire High. He replaces Jim Riccitelli who retired recently for personal reasons.
Cheshire athletic director Steve Trifone made the official announcement early this afternoon.
“I’ve been out of hockey for a year and I miss it,” Sundquist said. “I also live nearby in Prospect and the locale of the program drew me to it too. Cheshire has a winning tradition and Jim had a lot of success the short time he was there. Hopefully we will continue that success.”
Sundquist will also have to deal with some challenges as the Rams enter the 2011-12 season.
The Connecticut Interscholastic Athletic Conference moved Cheshire from Division II to Division I for the 2011-12 season. The Rams will compete on the Division I level in the post season for the first time since 1978. Also, key players from last season’s championship team have opted to move to prep school instead of staying at Cheshire – Owen Powers (Choate), Mike Muzyka (Salisbury) and Jack Cunningham (Pomfret).
“Moving to Division I will be a big challenge,” said Sundquist, who knows something about challenges. He was diagnosed with testicular cancer in early 2009 and it was caught early enough where surgery successfully removed the cancer the same year. “I know some talented kids moved on to prep school and that will be a challenge as well.
“But the magic number in high school seems to be 35. If we can get more than 35 kids to try out for the hockey team, we can be competitive.”
Riccitelli coached six seasons at Cheshire and won a CIAC Division III championship in 2006 and Division II titles in 2009 and 2011.
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