Apollo Beach gymnastics academy with connection to Idaho murder victim honors her legacy

APOLLO BEACH, Fla. - Students at the University of Idaho are returning to campus and classes this week as the man accused of killing four college students returns to court.

Police arrested Bryan Kohberger in the quadruple murder at the end of December, using DNA evidence, surveillance video, and phone tracking to build their case. Kohberger is accused of stabbing Madison Mogen, Kaylee Goncalves, Ethan Chapin, and Xana Kernodle to death inside their off-campus home in November.

Todd McLean now owns Apollo Beach Gymnastics Academy, but he used to own a gym in Idaho and coached Kernodle for six years. His daughter, Sydney Gribnitz, who also coaches at the Academy, was best friends with Kernodle growing up.

They moved to Florida about six years ago.

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"She was about as close as anybody I didn’t stand in the delivery room with could be," McLean said. "Her dad was a single dad raising two daughters so Xana would oftentimes come to our house after practice and stay there until he got off work. She went on family trips with us."

McLean and Gribnitz said Kernodle was an extremely talented gymnast who dominated competitions.

"She came to our gym," McLean said. "She had been begging dad for a while. I think she watched the 2008 Olympics and just fell in love with gymnastics," he said.

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McLean said Kernodle was a self-taught gymnast when she came to his gym.

"Right away we became super close and then throughout those years of competing together we became even closer," Gribnitz said.

Both said they went into a state of shock when they found out Kernodle was one of the four murder victims killed at the University of Idaho.

"I think for several, several days I just felt a nauseating feeling in my stomach like I’d been kicked but with no relief," McLean said. "Anybody that knew Xana would absolutely fall in love with her within minutes, so we just knew it couldn’t have been somebody who had any knowledge of her at all," he said.

Ethan Chapin, 20, Xana Kernodle, 20, Madison Mogen, 21, and Kaylee Goncalves, 21, along with the women's two other roommates in Kaylee Goncalves' final Instagram post, shared the day before the slayings. (@kayleegoncalves/Instagram)

They said waiting more than two months for an arrest was agonizing.

"I thought when they made an arrest that was going to bring some relief, but it really did the opposite. It just added another layer of emotion. Now you get to add anger and hatred and I don’t want to be that person," McLean said.

"When the arrest was made, it was pretty hard, but I think for me, I still have a lot of questions that I want answered," Gribnitz said.

Gribnitz said coaching the athletes and seeing the relationships they build with each other reminds her of Kernodle.

"These fundraising efforts we’re doing are also going to continue to remind us of her and the impact she made on everyone’s life she met," she said.

The gym is raising money to contribute to the Xana Kernodle Scholarship Endowment at the University of Idaho that Kernodle’s family started.

"It just keeps her memory alive. We keep remembering, like I said, the light that she was on this world, and hopefully whoever gets this scholarship fund, or the people who get this scholarship fund, keep that memory alive as well," Gribnitz said. "She was just such a funny person. If you were with her, you were laughing. She was a friend to everyone she met. There was never an enemy."

McLean said they’re asking people to pledge any amount of money when a gymnast scores a nine or better this season because Kernodle, he said, always scored a nine or better. People can also donate on the gym’s website.

"We just want to do our part to honor her and to help continue her legacy," McLean said. "She was so charismatic and just loved everybody, She pulled that team so close together it was the closest team that I’ve ever coached in 30 years of doing this, so again, Xana, to know her is to love her. She loved everybody."

The Academy’s gymnasts’ jackets also have an X for Xana in the gym’s logo on the zipper, and they’re dedicating their season to her.

"I think that it’s a constant reminder, and it will make us feel a little bit better as we continue to heal from this tragedy," McLean said. "An amazing person is going to have a positive effect on somebody else like Xana always did and that’s what the money is going to go towards is keeping her memory alive in helping others."

They’re selling the zipper pulls for $15 and all the profits will go toward the scholarship endowment. According to McLean, they’re also working towards awarding the first Xana Kernodle Inspiration Award to a gymnast following this season.