When do you use cross country spikes?

You can race without spikes, even in rainy weather. Since you would only be using them for this season, you probably don't need to worry about it. You can't use them for 5k road races later anyway, the spikes are no good on paved surfaces. Sadly, there are very few opportunities to enter 5k trail races once you are out of school.

Instead of spikes, look for a fairly light racing shoe with an aggressive tread, something that will provide some grip if you encounter mud, with enough space between the treads to allow the mud to fall out when you get on a more solid surface.

Hi!

I run cross country and you don't have to get spikes but usually the serious cross country runners and the winners are wearing spikes. I don't wear my outside of school races because it is bad to run in them for training. You can to it once or twice to get used to them but other than I that I wouldn't. If you are really into cross country and want to take your performance to the next level, I would definitely get some spikes. If you're just a casual runner I wouldn't get them unless you really want them. They do look pretty awesome though. They only shave a couple seconds off your time but that can make the difference between placing 5th or 30th.