Three from Gymnastics Earn All-GEC Honors; Kenney Secures Five All-Conference Selections

FULL GEC RELEASE

BRIDGEPORT, Conn. – Following standout regular seasons, a trio of UB gymnasts have earned GEC All-Conference accolades for the 2026 campaign. Abby Kenney, Samantha Nokes and Nova Staruk have all been recognized for superb performances this year.

The GEC's All-Conference Teams recognize the top performers across each event based on National Qualifying Score (NQS) rankings during the regular season.

Gymnasts are named to the First Team by finishing among the top six NQS scores in the conference, including ties, while Second Team honors are awarded to the next six NQS scores, including ties.

UB's All-GEC Honorees (Event, NQS):

First Team
Nova Staruk (Vault - 9.825)

Abby Kenney (All-Around – 38.875, Bars – 9.780, Beam – 9.775)

Samantha Nokes (Bars – 9.750)

Second Team
Abby Kenney (Vault – 9.770, Floor – 9.800)

__________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

For the second straight year, Abby Kenney earned All-GEC recognition in all four events as well as the all-around, highlighted by the conference's top all-around NQS and first-team honors on both bars and beam.

Kenney also showed impressive growth from a year ago, improving her NQS on bars, vault, and floor, while matching her career-best all-around score of 39.150 earlier this season.

Joining Kenney on first teams were junior Nova Staruk and senior Samantha Nokes.

Staruk continued her consistent excellence by earning All-GEC honors for the third consecutive season, improving her vault NQS from last year.

Nokes, meanwhile, secured her first career All-Conference accolade with first-team recognition on bars, rounding out a strong showing for the Purple Knights.

__________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Season Highs for UB's All-GEC Performers

Kenney
All-Around: 39.150 (Home quad, 1/24)
Floor: 9.875 (at home vs. West Chester, 2/7)
Beam: 9.850 (at Brown, 3/8)
Vault: 9.850 (at New Hampshire, 1/18)
Bars: 9.850 (at Brown, 3/8)

Staruk
Vault: 9.850 (three times: 2/15, 1/24, 1/18)

Nokes
Bars: 9.800 (at Brown, 3/8)

Up Next
UB's gymnastics team will return to action at the 2026 GEC Championships this Saturday at Cornell (noon). The Purple Knights are the No. 5 seed at the championships with a team NQS of 192.619. Bridgeport placed third a year ago.