Although women’s wrestling reached the Olympics in 2004, the sport still hasn’t earned nods from all wrestling fans, including the NCAA.

As of June 2019, women’s wrestling sits as an emerging sport in NCAA with 23 schools endorsing the game. The NCAA rules an emerging sport as 20 varsity teams have competed in it for a minimum of five years. However, the NCAA needs to wait for 17 more schools to break the barrier.

With women’s wrestling sitting 17 schools away from being a Division I staple, who can help develop it in 2019?

Arizona State has the answer: 133-pound sophomore Marlee Smith, who steps into big shoes as an influential leader in the wrestling gap between genders. She sits in a crucial spot but is prepared to take on the role of the building block of the future.

Watch Smith at the 2019 Bill Farrell Memorial International Open this weekend

“I love being a leader,” Smith said. “When I’m here, one of my goals is I want to start a women’s team . . . so hopefully I can do that and just grow the sport some more.”

Being the lone female wrestler representing the West, she can blaze the path for women.

Sundevils head coach Zeke Jones is aware of the influence Smith has on this generation of women wrestlers and her hope of creating a program in the desert. 

“It’s great having Marlee in the program, and really she’s setting the trail for the new generation of women’s college wrestling,” Jones said. “Ultimately, we want to have a women’s wrestling program here, and hopefully she can be the one that helps lead us.”

Although soft-spoken, Smith fights for whatever she sets her mind to. She will fight you tooth and nails if you step in her way, according to Jones.

Even though she fights for every point on the mat, she’s the perfect example off the mat, too.

“[She’s] a great person, great student, very soft-spoken, always got a smile, always friendly to people,” Jones said. “Our program has a high standard. Excellent student, excellent wrestler, and a great person, and she cleared that test.”

Smith doesn’t sit alone, though. She’s stepping in the shoes of pioneers Tricia Saunders and ASU alum Kelsey Campbell.

Smith’s connection to Campbell is crucial to her due to the complications of women’s wrestling. From not being allowed into certain wrestling rooms to not training with certain wrestlers and not having a locker room, Campbell and Smith shadow behind the men. Still, Smith continues to flourish under the training of Campbell and ASU.

“If Kelsey weren’t here, I feel like I wouldn’t be where I am because she’s been through what I’ve been through,” Smith said. “So, I have someone to look up to, and she helped a lot with that, but now I love what I do. I love training with the guys. It’s like part of the family, so I love it.”

Campbell and the Sun Devils are cross-country from Smith’s home in Wantage, New Jersey. Nevertheless, the Sun Devil squad support her on and off the mat.

“Everyone is so supportive, hardworking,” she said. “We all just make each other want to work harder. The boys here are always willing to go with me at practice whenever I need them, and the coaches put a lot of work with me after practice if I need more work, we’ll do individuals.”

Besides the love of the sport, Smith says the support system has allowed her to compete for 13 years. Although she has not competed at the collegiate level yet, she has shaped the women’s wrestling landscape already. 

About 17,000 women wrestle in high school. Even though most will not wrestle in college, Smith’s social media blows up daily with messages on how these high school wrestlers can follow her footsteps. 

“I get girls who message me all the time saying that they want to come here, when are they going to start a program, and I know we will start a program — it’s just the matter of fact when,” Smith said.

Jones is a firm believer that when Smith finishes her Sun Devil wrestling career, the women’s wrestling program will be blazing.

“Marlee is in a group where it’s still one woman and all the men on the team, but the energy, the understanding of women’s wrestling is good for America,” Jones said. “Ultimately having a Division I wrestling team, Marlee is the one that can help us do that. She’s the one that can help us blaze the trail to start a collegiate women’s wrestling program.” 

It won’t be easy for Smith to push women’s wrestling into an NCAA sport, but ASU has been by her side since she attempted to join. Since coming from the Regional Training Center, she noticed ASU would be the better option to complete her goal. 

“They asked me if I wanted to join the team,” Smith said. “Of course I took the opportunity and I couldn’t be more thankful.”

It was an easy deal for the ASU athletic department to cooperate with Smith’s fighting forces as well. 

“It would be unusual to add the opposite gender onto an opposite-gender team,” Jones said. “It was an additional conversation with the athletic administration, and they were super supportive.”

For the sophomore, Smith and the Sun Devil family have a few years to complete the mission.

Even if Smith cannot complete her goal at Arizona State, though, she is a voice for women nationwide. For all the women interested in wrestling or anything else, Smith has one piece of advice. 

“Just keep working hard, and it doesn’t matter who you are surrounded by. You are you and work on yourself to get better.”

Nick Zeller-Singh is a student at Arizona State studying Sports Journalism. In addition to writing for FloWrestling, he appears on his college radio station, does play-by-play, and covers a variety of sports as a beat writer. Follow him on Twitter.