CHARLOTTE, N.C. – The reigning ACC Champion Cardinal was picked to finish first in the Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC) in 2026 following a vote of the league’s six head coaches.
Clemson was picked to finish second, while California was selected to finish third. North Carolina, NC State, and Pitt rounded out the league’s preseason poll rankings.
Alongside the preseason coaches poll, the conference released the 2026 Preseason Watch List which features 12 gymnasts as nominated by the league’s six gymnastics programs, and the Newcomer List, featuring one true freshman from each program. For the second consecutive season, ACC Co-All-Around and Floor Champion Anna Roberts was picked for the Preseason Watch List alongside junior Sienna Robinson, while freshman Ana Bărbosu was named to the 2026 Newcomer Watch List.
Roberts and Robinson were key leaders in the 2025 season that saw the Cardinal earn its first conference title since 2008. Roberts’ two conference individual titles marked the first time a Stanford gymnast had brought home two or more individual championships since Carly Janiga earned three league crowns at the 2009 Pac-10 Championships (All-around, Bars and Beam). Her junior campaign was capped off with WCGA Regular-Season Second Team All-American honors on vault and All-ACC Gymnastics Team selections on vault, bars and floor. Sienna Robinson excelled as a specialist for the Cardinal, named to the All-ACC Gymnastics Team on beam and earning ACC Specialist of the Week honors twice throughout the 2025 campaign. She set career bests of 9.900-or-better on all three events she competed on throughout the 2025 season and brought home four individual event titles, the third-most of any Cardinal gymnast (two on beam, two on floor).
Bărbosu joins the Cardinal with an extensive resume from her time on the Romanian National Artistic Gymnastics Team and as an elite gymnast. In her past year of elite competition, she brought home three medals at the 2025 European Championships, highlighted by a gold medal on floor, and earned two silver medals on beam and floor at the 2025 City of Jesolo Trophy event. Bărbosu also earned the bronze medal on floor at the 2024 Olympic Games in Paris, France, alongside leading the Romanian National Team to a seventh-place team finish.
Stanford, under ninth-year Rodgers Family Director of Gymnastics Tabitha Yim, kicks off the 2026 campaign on Jan. 11 with a dual meet against the Denver Pioneers in Denver, Colo.
2026 ACC Preseason Coaches Poll
1. Stanford- 34
2. Clemson- 25
3. California- 21
4. North Carolina- 20
5. NC State- 17
6. Pitt- 9
2026 Preseason Watch List
Anna Roberts, Stanford
Sienna Robinson, Stanford
Sage Melkonian, California
Annalise Newman-Achee, California
Ella Cesario, Clemson
Brie Clark, Clemson
Kaya Forbes, North Carolina
Gwen Fink, North Carolina
Ashley Knight, NC State
Synya Thomas, NC State
Hallie Cooperwheat, Pitt
Jaime Pratt, Pitt
2026 Newcomer Watch List
Ana Bărbosu, Stanford
Tonya Paulsson, California
Emma Malewski, Clemson
Sydney Seabrooks, North Carolina
Autumn Rardin, NC State
Layla Bobek, Pitt