Marisa Ingemi has covered the NHL’s Boston Bruins and the WNBA’s Golden State Valkyries. But her favorite story unfolded far away from the bright lights of any sold-out arena, in a leaky warehouse where a nonprofit roller derby league was struggling to survive. 

“This rundown West Oakland building is the physical and spiritual home of Bay Area Derby, aka BAD,” Ingemi (’17) wrote in August 2023. “Almost everyone among BAD’s three teams and 20-plus skaters is queer. Many are trans, an identity now being pushed out of traditional sports by legislation across the country.” 

“I love to find a niche. I’m always looking for stories within the margins that other reporters aren’t thinking of,” she says. Though Ingemi’s first big break came covering men’s professional ice hockey, the niches she most enjoys covering—and for which she’s built her reputation—involve women’s sports and queer athletes. Her roller derby story received a 2024 Excellence in Sports Writing award from the Association of LGBTQ+ Journalists and Ingemi was a finalist for the inaugural Billie Jean King Award for Excellence in Women’s Sports Coverage, which is presented by the Associated Press Sports Editors.

“Sometimes people get into sports journalism because they love sports, then they fall in love with the journalism. That’s definitely what happened with me,” Ingemi says. “Sports journalism intersects with every topic. You’re kind of covering everything and I really love that.”

Women’s sports are exploding in popularity. Professional basketball, hockey and soccer leagues have all expanded in the past two years. Two billion people watched the 2023 FIFA Women’s World Cup. And the 2024 NCAA Women’s Basketball championship game—in which the University of South Carolina defeated the University of Iowa and their superstar Caitlin Clark—drew more viewers than the men’s final the next day. 

The sports media industry, historically male-dominated, is slowly catching up. According to a report published by the Wasserman talent agency and ESPN Research, women’s sports accounted for just 16 percent of the sports media coverage in 2022—but that still represented a 300 percent increase since 2019. 

At the San Francisco Chronicle, where Ingemi has worked since 2022, she landed in a newsroom that is investing in women’s sports coverage. They’ve given her the freedom to cover stories like the Bay Area Derby and she’s one of only four beat writers across the 13-team WNBA who travels to away games.  

The Golden State Valkyries played their first game in May 2025, but rumors of the league’s possible expansion to the Bay Area had been circulating for years. “I love seeing people who have wanted a WNBA team for 20 years,” Ingemi says. “We’re in this moment where we’re seeing other groups of people being acknowledged—like, you matter.”

Writing for this audience, Ingemi says, motivates her to bring something new to the sports section. “There’s an opportunity to change things. We don’t have to always do things the way men’s sports have historically [been covered]. There are going to be fans of the Valkyries that have never opened a sports section before.” 

That means explaining the league and the game for new fans in a way that writers on the men’s beat may not. It also means looking beyond the court. “The people drawn to women’s basketball want more people-oriented stuff, social issue stuff,” she says.

Sports journalism intersects with every topic. You’re kind of covering everything and I really love that.

Marisa Ingemi

Over the past year, some of those social issues have also exploded into political controversy. “Sports are political,” Ingemi says. “And women’s sports especially are political because there’s a lot of people who don’t even want women to do them.”

No sports topic has been more politicized over the past year than the participation of transgender women. In 2024, then-presidential-candidate Donald Trump promised to ban transgender women from women’s sports and targeted the San Jose State University volleyball team, for whom a transgender woman was competing. The story grew as several schools forfeited games rather than play against the Spartans and a member of the team joined a lawsuit seeking to overturn the NCAA rule allowing transgender women to compete. (The NCAA updated its policy in February 2025, limiting participation in women’s sports to athletes assigned female at birth.)

From October 2024 into early 2025, Ingemi reported almost exclusively on the San Jose State story. She wrote more than 20 stories about the team and the growing controversy, even fact-checking President Trump after he falsely claimed that the player could spike the ball dangerously fast and had injured an opponent. That coverage earned Ingemi 2024 National Sports Media Association cosportswriter of the year honors for California.

Ingemi has had mixed feelings about blending her love of sports with her profession. At one point, she realized she could no longer watch baseball and football for fun. But focusing on women’s sports has reinvigorated the passion that drew her to sports journalism in the first place.

“It’s just so different seeing something grow like this,” she says. “This must’ve been what it was like watching baseball in 1915. We’re seeing something come into itself. And we’re seeing something that people love and that they’re getting access to for the first time. That’s made me really love what sports can do for people.”

PHILADELPHIA – The Maxwell Football Club today announced its watch list for the 89^th Maxwell Award and Sun Devil Football has a pair of representatives.

Quarterback Sam Leavitt and wide receiver Jordyn Tyson are each candidates for the annual award given to the most outstanding player in college football. The Maxwell Award has been presented to the College Player of the Year since 1937 and is named in honor of Robert “Tiny” Maxwell who was a former standout at Swarthmore College and a renowned sportswriter and football official.

Leavitt and Tyson are one of only 17 pairs of teammates to land on the Preseason Maxwell Award Watch List. The tandem is considered one of the best quarterback-wide receiver combinations in the country heading into the 2025 season and national outlets continue to take notice. Earlier in the offseason, both Leavitt and Tyson were named Walter Camp Preseason All-Americans.

The Maxwell Award watch list incorporates a broad spectrum of FBS programs and conferences from coast to coast. The full list consists of 80 players and the Big 12 (15) is one of the three conferences with at least 15 representatives (SEC, 17; ACC, 16). Arizona State is one of just three programs nationally to have a QB/WR duo land on the Maxwell Award watch list, joined by only Auburn and Clemson.

Maxwell Award Preseason Watch List

Selection Process
The Maxwell Football Club has once again partnered with Pro Football Focus (PFF) and Phil Steele Publications as selection committee partners. PFF provides detailed metrics and performance-based assessments to selection committee staff, with several senior PFF analysts are members of our selection committee. Phil Steele’s College Football Preview is generally recognized as the most complete preseason magazine.

Award Timeline
Semifinalists for the Maxwell Award will be announced November 11, 2025, while the three finalists for the Maxwell Award will be unveiled November 25, 2025. The winner of the 89^th Maxwell Award will be announced as part of the ESPN Home Depot College Football Awards Show held on December 11, 2025. The formal presentations of the Maxwell Award will be made at the Maxwell Football Club Awards on Friday March 13, 2026 in Atlanta, Georgia. 

Sam Leavitt, RS-So. (West Linn, OR)
– The lone quarterback to land on the Walter Camp Preseason All-American Second Team.
– Finished his first year in Tempe as the school record holder for total offense by a freshman with 3,328 yards and second in program history in passing yards by a freshman at 2,885. 
– The 3,328 total yards of offense are eighth in ASU single-season history regardless of class.
– Named the Big 12 Freshman/Newcomer of the Year.
– The nation’s second-highest graded freshman player (true or redshirt with 400 snaps) on either side of the football by PFF (88.9), behind only Ohio State receiver Jeremiah Smith (89.8).
– His 88.9 grade for the season is the eighth-best among all FBS freshman quarterbacks in the PFF era since 2015 (min. 400 snaps played). Of the seven players ahead of him, six started an NFL game last season (Brock Purdy, Trevor Lawrence, Caleb Williams, Drake Maye, C.J. Stroud and Spencer Rattler). 
– His grade was higher than the freshman year grades of NFL starting quarterbacks Sam Darnold, Justin Herbert, Jalen Hurts, Daniel Jones, Jordan Love, Bo Nix and Jayden Daniels.
– The grade was good for 12th among all FBS quarterbacks in 2024.
– After having just three touchdown passes in his first four games, he finished with 21 over his final nine games played with just four interceptions.
– Had eight passes for 50+ yards, most in Big 12 and tied for second most in the FBS for the season, only ASU player this century to have more in one season was Jayden Daniels in 2019.
– Among players with at least 300 dropbacks, Leavitt tied for third in the FBS with just five turnover-worthy throws on the season, according to Pro Football Focus.
– His six interceptions were tied for sixth-fewest in the FBS among those with at least 300 dropbacks.
– Was one of just four with 20+ touchdowns (24) with six or fewer interceptions (six) AND turnover-worthy throws (5) (min. 300 dropbacks).
– Only 20 of his passes were broken, good for the 20th-lowest total in the FBS. His four passes batted at the line of scrimmage at tied for 25th-lowest in the FBS (min. 300 dropbacks).
– Leavitt showed his ability to keep his composure under pressure, with 708 passing yards while pressured – good for 19th nationally despite missing a game. His 7.8 yards per attempt while under pressure were 12th-best in the country. His 5 under pressure touchdowns were 20th.
– His 74.8 NFL QBR while under pressure was 30th in the nation. He picked up a first down with his arm 41 times on 143 pressures – 13th-most in the FBS.
– Set his receivers up for success, finding open players and hitting dudes in stride to the tune of 58.6 percent of his total yardage coming after the catch – good for third nationally.
– Rushed for 435 yards on 51 scrambles, good for the second-most among quarterbacks in the FBS.
– Picked up a first down or touchdown on 47.1 percent of those QB scrambles, good for 11th among FBS quarterbacks (min 25 scrambles).
– Had the nation’s sixth-best rushing grade when scrambling at 76.4. His 79.1 overall rushing grade was 18th among FBS quarterbacks.
– First ASU quarterback to have six games in a season with three or more touchdown passes (6) since Mike Berocovici in 2015 (6). The six games were tied for second-most this century behind only Andrew Walter’s seven in 2004. The last Big 12 freshman to have that many performances in a season was Oklahoma’s Sam Bradford in 2007 (eight).
– Thrice earned Big 12 Newcomer of the Week and also earned the Shaun Alexander National Freshman of the Week honor following the K-State contest.
– First Sun Devil to post three consecutive games with three touchdown passes and no picks since Jayden Daniels did it three times in 2019.
– He had his first career 300+ yard game on the road against Oklahoma State, finishing 20-of-29 for 304 yards and three touchdowns with no picks.
– Named the Big 12 Newcomer of the Week following his four-touchdown effort against Kansas, including the game-winner with less than a minute remaining. The four touchdowns were the most for any quarterback in the country in Week 6 as he was the highest-graded quarterback in the Big 12 for the week by PFF and ninth best in the FBS (89.4).
– Leavitt’s 258 passing yards in his starting debut against Wyoming were the third-most by a Sun Devil making his debut since 1996, behind only Joey Yellen (292 in 2019) and Jayden Daniels (284 in 2019)
– Sun Devil QB Sam Leavitt shines at Big 12 Media Days (by Scott Bordow, ASU News/July 17, 2025)
– Sam Leavitt reaping the benefits of ASU’s return to national prominence (by John Marshall, Associated Press/April 17, 2025)

Jordyn Tyson, RS-Jr. (Allen, TX)
– One of only two receivers to land on the Walter Camp Preseason All-American Second Team.
– A Third-Team All-America selection in 2024 by the Associated Press.
– Had a breakout season in 2024, with 75 catches for 1,101 yards and 10 touchdowns before getting injured in the second half of the Nov. 30 Arizona game and missing the postseason.
– Earned Big 12 Offensive Newcomer of the Year.
– Had five games of 100-yards receiving including 12 catches for 176 yards and two touchdowns at No. 16 Kansas State on Nov. 16.
– In the first six games, he totaled 25 catches for 369 yards and four touchdowns. In the second six games he had 50 receptions for 732 yards and six scores.
– He caught eight touchdowns in six-game stretch and 624 yards (104.0 yards per game) on 44 catches in that span. In the first four games, he had 14 catches for 209 yards with one touchdown.
– His ten touchdowns tied him for sixth all-time in Sun Devil history, one of just 11 Sun Devils total to reach double digits in a season, and the most since Jaelen Strong had 10 in 2014.
– The 176 receiving yards against KSU were the most since Brandon Aiyuk put up 196 on Washington State back on Oct. 12, 2019. It was the most receiving yards in a road game since Devin Lucien had 200 yards at California on Nov. 28, 2015.
– Four of his touchdown receptions were in the final five minutes of a half (two in the first half and two in the second half).
– Three of his seven touchdown catches came in the fourth quarter of games – which was tied for fourth among FBS receivers when his season ended. His 12 third down receiving conversions were tied for 17th in the FBS through the month of November.
– Tyson has emphasized wide receiver coach Hines Ward’s “No Block, No Rock” mantra as he was fifth among FBS receivers with 298 run-blocking snaps until his season was cut short.

More on Sun Devil Football’s 2025 Preseason…

2025 Dodd Trophy Preseason Watch List
Sun Devil Football Head Coach Kenny Dillingham was named to the preseason watch list for the 2025 Dodd Trophy. The Bobby Dodd Coach of the Year Foundation and Peach Bowl, Inc. released the initial candidates for the 2025 Dodd Trophy Presented by PNC Bank. This year’s list includes 26 of the nation’s top college football coaches, highlighted by Arizona State’s Kenny Dillingham.

Dillingham was a finalist for the 2024 Dodd Trophy after leading the Sun Devils to a historic 11-3 season which culminated in a Big 12 Championship, Peach Bowl Appearance, and berth in the College Football Playoff. He was named 2024 Big 12 Coach of the Year for his efforts and is once again being considered as one of the top coaches entering the 2025 season.

Kenny Dillingham, Arizona State
Bret Bielema, Illinois
Jeff Brohm, Louisville
Curt Cignetti, Indiana
Mario Cristobal, Miami (FL)
Matt Campbell, Iowa State
Spencer Danielson, Boise State
Ryan Day, Ohio State
Kalen DeBoer, Alabama
Eliah Drinkwitz, Mizzou
Mike Elko, Texas A&M
James Franklin, Penn State
Marcus Freeman, Notre Dame
Josh Heupel, Tennessee
Brian Kelly, LSU
Brent Key, Georgia Tech
Chris Klieman, Kansas State
Dan Lanning, Oregon
Joey McGuire, Texas Tech
Jeff Monken, Army
Steve Sarkisian, Texas
Ryan Silverfield, Memphis
Kalani Sitake, BYU
Kirby Smart, Georgia
Dabo Swinney, Clemson
Brent Venables, Oklahoma