Students may have to do a double take when seeing a student walk around campus in Spider-Man socks with a Spider-Man lunch box. Some days students may even think they’ve seen the super hero due to her Spider-Man-themed wardrobe, but that’s not the case.
Emily Webster, chemistry senior and wrestler, is known on campus for her Spider-Man fandom. She also is undefeated in her time at OCU.
At least one of Webster’s teammates said the wrestler actually may be Spider-Man.
“I believe from the depths of my soul that Emily Webster is Spider-Man,” said Kayla Aggio, exercise science junior. “Her addiction to all things Spider-Man related, her nickname ‘Webby’, and her ‘Spidey-senses’ and strength can’t just be a coincidence.”
Webster has been wrestling for 10 years and is going down in history as OCU’s first four-time national champion for the women’s wrestling program. The program was established in 2007 as Oklahoma’s first collegiate women’s wrestling program.
Webster is 4-foot-9 and, at 100 pounds, she barely makes her weight class of 101 pounds, but she has continued to be a No. 1 ranked wrestler all four years at OCU in the Women’s College Wrestling Association.
Webster even managed to win her fourth national title with a torn ACL. She tore her ACL about a month before nationals during a dual. After contemplating her options, Webster decided she wasn’t going to give up her chance at a fourth title just because of an injury. She took her injury as a new challenge and was determined to overcome it, she said.
Webster originally wanted to play basketball, until she found out how early practices were.
“It was too early in the morning,” Webster said. “Plus, I’m not very tall, but I wanted to play a sport. I heard there was another girl going out for the wrestling team, so I decided to give it a shot. I fell in love with it.”
Webster fell in love with wrestling because of the challenges it presents, she said.
Webster also enjoys baking and chemistry. She decided she’s done with wrestling now that her time as a collegiate wrestler is ending, mainly because she isn’t heavy enough to move on past collegiate. Also, she said she is ready to give it up and move on to her other passions.
Webster is interning at a bakery in Wisconsin the summer after she graduates, then she plans to move back to her home state of Missouri and find a career in a chemistry lab.
If her internship goes well, she may even open her own bakery one day, Webster said.
The women’s wrestling team uses Webster as an inspiration.
“Emily has influenced so many of us,” Aggio said. “Her hard work was not just on the mat, but in the classroom. Her positivity and level-headedness kept the room upbeat and hungry. She may be small, but the fight in her is by far greater than any person, big or small, I’ve encountered. She is an incredible woman and a huge inspiration to everyone.”
Webster is humble about her winnings.
“I mean I guess it feels pretty good to be undefeated,” Webster said. “I don’t really look at that necessarily. I just took it one match at a time. I guess it’s cool, but really I just went out and did my job every time.”
Webster has maintained a 3.95 grade point average during her college career. Her teachers are the reason behind this, she said.
“My favorite part about OCU has been my science teachers,” Webster said. “They’ve all been really great.”
Leave a Reply