Iredell gymnast's dedication to sport leads to college opportunity at Top 25 program

Mooresville High School senior Mariah Knight will graduate in May and then it's off to Raleigh.

Knight committed to NC State and will compete for the Wolfpack as a member of its gymnastics team. She is scheduled to sign her National Letter of Intent on Thursday.

"It's a wonderful program, wonderful academics," Knight said of NC State. "I'm excited."

The weekend of April 11, Knight competed in Bradenton, Florida, during the USA Gymnastics (USAG) Region 8 regionals featuring gymnasts from Alabama, North and South Carolina, Florida, Georgia, Louisiana and Mississippi.

There, the two-time reigning North Carolina balance beam state champion earned her highest All-Around score (37.025) of the season and qualified for nationals.

"It went well," Knight said. "A successful competition."

A level 10 gymnast, Knight began gymnastics at age 3 at Sunburst Gymnastics Academy in San Antonio, Texas, where she lived until 2019.

Upon moving to Mooresville, she trained at KPAC in Statesville for a couple of years. In 2022, she opted to instead train at Enso Elite Gymnastics in Huntersville and has remained there since.

"Coaches and teammates, it was just a whole new environment," Knight said of Enso Elite. "I fell back in love with the sport. I think it was there that I got that environment and support that I needed to thrive. I realized I want to take it further, and I have the capabilities to do it."

Training about 20 hours per week, Knight worked her way up the USAG levels.

"A lot of sacrifice," Knight said. "A lot of time in the gym."

At the North Carolina state competition during the last weekend in March, Knight captured her second straight balance beam state title. She did so with Wolfpack coaches in attendance.

On March 31, she received the college offer to join the NC State gymnastics team, which ranked 21st in the country earlier this year.

"Having that statement of getting my highest beam score and taking home the state championship made a difference," she said, "but also, (the NC State coaches) had been following my season."

As an all-around gymnast, Knight is versed in each of the four events: vault, bars, balance beam, and floor exercise.

She was primarily recruited for bars and beam.

"It's just a blessing to be able to have this opportunity and to be so close to home," Knight said.

"Super excited to represent Mooresville," she added. "NC State only recruited five from the class of 2026 and of those five I'm the only one from North Carolina. I think that's kind of exciting too."

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