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.

Southern Connecticut Conference commissioner Al Carbone has announced the pairings for the SCC boys’ lacrosse tournament and No. 1 seed Fairfield Prep is the team to beat.


The most interesting aspect of this season’s seedings is Cheshire and Prep could potentially meet in the semifinals as opposed to their usual face-off in the championship game.

Carbone also said that he will take it one day at a time as far as the weather reports that predict heavy rain on Monday from tropical storm Alberto and showers on Tuesday-Wednesday.

PAIRINGS

Quarterfinals – Monday, May 21
#8 Amity at #1 Fairfield Prep – 4 p.m.
#7 Shelton at #2 Guilford – 7:15 p.m.
#6 North Haven at #3 Daniel Hand – 7:15 p.m.
#5 Cheshire at #4 Xavier – 4:30 p.m.

Semifinals – Wednesday, May 23 @Branford HS
Amity/Fairfield Prep winner vs. Cheshire/Xavier winner – 4 p.m.
Shelton/Guilford winner vs. North Haven/Daniel Hand winner – 6 p.m.

Championship Game – Friday, May 25 @Branford HS – TBA

The 28th annual Eli Youth Lacrosse Jamboree will take place this weekend (Saturday-Sunday) at the Yale University fields on Central Ave. in New Haven with a record 120 teams participatng. The event is for boys and girls in grades 3-8.
Organizer Jon Einhorn can't wait for the event to take place.
"This is the biggest year yet for our jamboree," Einhorn said. "The 120 teams we have coming makes it the biggest youth lacrosse jamboree in New England. We use eight fields simultaneously on Central Avenue with 15-minute games, 5 minutes between each game."
Many lacrosse vendors will be present.
Amistad Academy is sending two teams.

Here is a list of the Connecticut teams that have committed to the event:

Stratford, Newtown, Ticks, Clinton, Litchfield Hills, East Lyme, Groton-Mystic,  Milford, North Branford, Amity, Barracuda, Branford, Danbury, Bridgeport, Ridgefield, Stampede, Canondale,          East Lyme, Shelton, Greenwich, Newtown, Madison, Docs, Avon, New Fairfield, St. Bernard, RELAX, Weston, Wakeman, Southington, Eli, Rye, North Haven, Norwalk, Guilford, New Milford, Pomperaug, Amistad.

Youth lacrosse has helped with the expansion of high school lacrosse in the New Haven area and throughout the state. Here is a link to a feature story on that expansion - http://bit.ly/JTcMsZ.

The Connecticut Chapter of United States Lacrosse, the governing body for lacrosse in the United States, announced that Frank Barron of Branford is one of eight people in Connecticut selected for induction into the Chapter’s Hall of Fame.
They will be inducted into the Hall of Fame at a dinner at the Aqua Turf in Southington on Nov. 13 at 4 p.m.
Barron, the Connecticut liason to U.S. Lacrosse, is a long-time coach at both Hand High and Branford High.
Others selected were Howard Benedict, a former coach at New Canaan; Jeff Brameier, current coach at Darien; Patti Klecha-Porter, a women’s official and coach at Wesleyan University; David Leete, an official, CIAC boys lacrosse tournament director and former AD at Manchester; Culver Modisette, an official and founder of Connecticut Valley Lacrosse in Simsbury; Maureen O’Shea, a former girls coach at Convent of Sacred Heart in Greenwich; and Andy Towers, a New Canaan and Brown alumnus, high school and collegiate All-American and current head coach at Dartmouth.