By the time Menlo School senior Amay Srinivasan lines up at the state cross-country meet Saturday, he will be running for more than just a time on the clock. For him, every stride reflects the friendships built through training, the lessons learned in endurance, and a growing appreciation for the world around him.

“Running has kind of given a lot more of a community to me,” Srinivasan said Tuesday. “It’s honestly an amazing community because we practice every day—just being with the group and the team on every run, working out together, building that trust between each other. That’s what’s made it really special for me.”

In back-to-back-to-back years, the Menlo boys’ team and the girls’ team are headed to the CIF-State Championships at Woodward Park in Fresno. On Saturday, Nov. 29, the girls will race at 11:00 am and the boys at 12:30 pm.

Constant community

Srinivasan played football and basketball. He started running cross country to train for basketball. By junior year, he was running to a state championship and at a national invitational. 

Cross country, though sometimes viewed as an individual sport, has taught Srinivasan the power of teamwork in subtle but impactful ways. He recalls moments when teammates have pushed him through grueling races, such as Knights junior and top finisher Henry Hauser, who paced him through a tough time trial.

“When you’re entering that spot where it’s gonna get really tough, having a teammate there to push you along makes it a lot better,” Srinivasan said. “Running for the team and the idea that your result matters for the sake of the team is a big motivator. It helps you finish when everything hurts.”

He knows that well as he, Hauser and Menlo’s cross country team won the Central Coast Section then the CIF-State Div. V team titles last season - the latter with the lowest score in the history of the championship. Running as Menlo Park, the team represented the smallest school to earn a bid to the unofficial national championship, the prestigious Nike Cross Nationals, 

Sportsmanship honor

Assistant coach Miles Bennett-Smith sees that same team spirit every time Srinivasan steps onto the course. “Amay brings intensity, consistency, and genuine care. He sets the tone for the team—competitive, but always positive. He’s the kind of runner who makes everyone around him better.”

That mindset extends beyond his own team. Bennett-Smith said section coaches and officials have noticed how Srinivasan competes fiercely yet treats others with kindness and respect, a combination that helped earn him the CCS Sportsmanship Award.​

“He has a really bubbly personality,” Bennett-Smith said. “He’s serious, he’s obviously really good as a runner, but he also spreads that cheer around… he’s always got a smile on his face, friendly with the competitors, but serious when it’s time to race.”

Bennett-Smith laughs at how Srinivasan prefers to wear old trainers when he practices, always creating a conversion rate vs. when he wears racing shoes like most runners of his level do. Perhaps Srinivasan enjoys figuring the conversion or maybe it’s psychological edge on meet day, but Bennett-Smith calls it classic, modest Amay. 

Appreciation for natural world

That sense of connection—to others and to the environment—has shaped more than just Srinivasan’s athletic life. It also guided his academic ambitions. He plans to study environmental science, inspired in part by his time running through nature’s landscapes.

“Just being outside, running these beautiful trails—like when we ran in Tahoe or Oregon—has really motivated me to do something with nature,” Srinivasan explained. “My experiences have made me more in touch with the environment and wanting to work on ways to take care of it.”

He says he feels that Menlo classes have reinforced that interest. “Definitely some of the classes I’ve been taking, like bio that have a lot of emphasis on the natural world,” he said. “I feel like Menlo has a really impact-based learning type of environment.”

Srinivasan is also drawn to the intersection of environmental science and technology. He talks with enthusiasm about how artificial intelligence and related tools might help solve climate and conservation challenges. “My liking technology makes me motivated to see what AI and institutions like that can make a difference in the environmental science world,” he said, adding that rapid advances create “a lot of room for great change to address environmental challenges.”

For now, the next step is a familiar one: another starting line, another chance to race with his teammates and celebrating the community that brought him here. Whether Srinivasan is surging up a hill in Fresno, teammates by his side, or studying ecosystems down the line in college, he is running toward something bigger—stewardship, and a future where the miles he has logged on the trails has deepened his care of the world he hopes to help protect.