While no reporter is omniscient and can be everywhere at once, sports editor Casey Olson came pretty close in his 11 years at the Mirror.

Casey had a special connection with the Federal Way community, covering Friday night lights, regionals, state meets and interviewing countless young athletes.

Newsroom lore long after Casey is gone will be about his days covering a UFC championship in Sacramento, Calif., where he followed lightweight champion and Decatur High School graduate Ben Henderson. Casey was so close to the match that one of the fighter’s blood spilled on his camera case.

Casey resigned his position two weeks ago to take on new challenges. He will be greatly missed, by the Mirror and the greater community.

My challenge now as editor is to determine how the Mirror will move forward and maintain our connection with the community — both in sports and our greater news coverage.

One of the ways we will excel at this will be through our strong news team, with the introduction of a new reporter — Raechel Dawson.

Raechel officially began last week as the Mirror’s new general assignment reporter. I know Raechel well; I initially hired her two years ago, when I was the editor of the Kirkland Reporter. An award-winning journalist, Raechel will be a strong addition to the Mirror’s newsroom with her keen desire to serve the Federal Way community.

So where does that leave our sports coverage?

Our newsroom will continue to cover sports, which has its place in the Mirror and is arguably what makes local coverage unique.

In the ever-changing world of community newspaper coverage, reporters by necessity are becoming more and more skilled in various capacities. While a reporter covering one beat is common at a metro daily, that is becoming more of a rarity at a local newspaper, where reporters are journalists, photographers, website administrators and copy editors.

The Mirror news team has donned our sports hat and you can still expect to see any one of us out on the field.

While we make this transition and as we explore new ways to cover sports, we want to hear from the community. What sports do you want to see the Mirror continue to cover? What is important to you in a community newspaper?

We also invite residents to help us acknowledge athletes’ accomplishments by emailing editor@fedwaymirror.com. We always welcome photos, sports results, story ideas and news about local athletes.