Liam Keating 'extremely grateful' for his time with the Topeka Capital-Journal

TOPEKA — The history of the Capital-Journal is littered with Kansas’ best sportswriters. 

It’s an absolute honor to have worked at this legendary newspaper. After three years, I have decided to move on and pursue a childhood dream. 

This is my final week writing about high school sports, Washburn, and other community events in Topeka. 

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I’m extremely grateful for the time and relationships that I’ve built in this city.

Over the past few years, there has been a change in our writing styles. Game stories are few and far between, with a focus on feature writing, which I wholeheartedly love. The way you, the readers, along with coaches and athletes, have adapted to this change has been fantastic. 

Diving into an athlete’s backstory or breaking down a singular play has been a treasure. Stories on halftime team talks, maintaining field surfaces, and guardian caps have been extremely rewarding. These types of stories do not get told if the singular focus is on game results. High school sports are much more than the wins and losses.

Topeka’s rich sports history and present-day success continue to create incredible moments. Speaking with players, coaches, and parents about their pride for this town was amazing. It forced me to become a better writer, simply because readers demanded it. 

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Topeka is the largest city in Kansas that still honors high school sports and still urges local media to cover it. There was nothing more rewarding than trying to live up to that challenge every single night. 

I’ve asked the question hundreds of times, ‘What’s your next goal?’ 

Players will respond with winning a championship or going to college. 

Coaches will say they want to make their team better or help shape young people. 

Parents just want their kids to be happy; that’s their goal. 

For me, my goal has always been to be a Division I sportswriter. My next role allows me to achieve a mark I set when I was 13 years old. 

I arrived in Topeka as a 25-year-old who was recently engaged.

I leave Topeka married, with a loving wife who has done everything to help me achieve my dream. 

I will forever remember Topeka as a great place to live because of the community. It allowed me to fail, it allowed me to succeed, and now, it’s allowed me to live out my dreams. 

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Liam Keating covers high school sports and Washburn University for The Topeka Capital-Journal. Send stats or information to him at Lkeating@gannett.com