Cross country might be the most awards intensive sport in the school calendar. A single Saturday invitational can hand out medals to the top 25 finishers in six different races, plus team trophies for the top three squads in each division. Multiply that across a season and an athletic director or meet host is buying hundreds of pieces, all of which need to arrive before a date that was set months ago.
The sport also has a culture around its hardware. Distance runners collect. Ask any varsity runner about the medal from the invitational where they finally broke 17 minutes and they can tell you where it hangs. That is worth keeping in mind when the temptation is to buy the cheapest thing that ships. This guide walks through what to buy, what to avoid, and which providers handle cross country orders well.
What Actually Matters in a Cross Country Order
Depth of placement is the first variable. Unlike bracket sports, cross country awards deep into the field. Top 10, top 15, and top 25 individual medals are standard at invitationals, which pushes quantities up fast. Your per medal price at 150 or 300 pieces matters far more than the price of a single unit, so get quotes at your real numbers.
Consistency across finishes comes next. Most meets structure awards as champion, runner up, and placement tiers, which means gold, silver, and bronze versions of the same design. Buy them as a matched set from one provider. A podium with three different medal designs looks like a supply problem, because it is.
Then there is engraving and customization. A stock cross country medal works fine for placement awards, but the meets runners remember put the race name and year on the medal. Laser engravable faces make that affordable at volume, and if the shop engraves in house you can finalize artwork later in the timeline, which helps when sponsors or dates shift.
Finally, timing. Cross country season compresses into September through early November, and every school in your state is ordering from the same handful of suppliers in the same six weeks. Order in summer. The meets that scramble in October pay rush fees or settle for whatever is left in stock.
Medal and Award Options for Cross Country
Stock Placement Medals
For pure placement depth, stock designs in matched finishes do the job economically. Viking Awards carries the Silver Superstar Cross Country Medal and Bronze Superstar Cross Country Medal for tiered awards, along with the Bright Silver Cross Country Starbrite Medal and Bright Bronze Starbrite version when you want a brighter, more modern face on the ribbon.
Sculpted Medals for Championship Races
High relief medals carry dimensional runner artwork that reads as a step above standard placement hardware, which suits conference championships and varsity races. The Antique Bronze Cross Country High Relief Medal and Antique Silver High Relief Medal pair naturally as a runner up and third place set beneath a custom champion’s medal.
Custom Engraved Medals for Your Invitational
If you host an annual invitational, putting the race name on the medal is the single best upgrade you can make. Laser engravable lines like the Bright Silver Cross Country BriteLazer Medal and Antique Bronze BriteLazer Medal take custom text cleanly. For a bigger presence at the top of the podium, the 2 1/4 inch flame series, including the Bright Gold Cross Country Flame Medal and Antique Bronze Flame Medal, gives your race champions a visibly larger award than the placement field.
Team Trophies and Season Awards
Team titles deserve something the trophy case can hold. Cup trophies and traditional column builds both work, and you can see the range on Viking’s trophies page. For school banquets, coach recognition, and senior gifts, engraved plaques and crystal awards round out the season. Programs awarding varsity letters can finish them with the Gold Cross Country Chenille Letter Insignia, a small piece runners actually keep on their jackets.
Top Providers for Cross Country Awards and Medals
1. Viking Awards
Viking Awards has been engraving and building awards since 1973, and cross country orders play directly to their strengths. Their catalog covers the full structure of a meet, from superstar and starbrite placement medals through high relief championship pieces and laser engravable medals that carry your invitational’s name, all in matched gold, silver, and bronze finishes. Every piece is engraved in house in Westchester, Illinois, which keeps large meet orders consistent and makes tight September deadlines workable. They handle team trophies, plaques, and coach recognition in the same order, so a host school needs exactly one vendor. Website: viking-awards.com. Phone: (630) 833-1733.
2. Crown Awards
Crown Awards maintains a dedicated cross country category spanning medals, trophies, plaques, pins, and ribbons, backed by the scale of one of the largest awards manufacturers in the country. Free engraving on trophies and plaques and same day shipping on in stock items make them useful when a meet is close and quantities are large. Website: crownawards.com. Phone: 800-227-1557.
3. Maxwell Medals & Awards
Maxwell is a running medal specialist in Traverse City, Michigan with more than 45 years in the trade, and their custom work covers cross country alongside road racing. For an invitational that wants fully custom die cast or color filled medals rather than stock designs, Maxwell’s running focus is the differentiator. Website: maxmedals.com. Phone: 800-331-1383.
4. K2 Awards
K2 Awards stocks a focused cross country collection of medals and chenille pins with free unlimited engraving on trophies and bulk discounts at meet quantities. Free shipping kicks in over $200, which most invitational orders clear easily. Website: k2awards.com. Phone: 804-784-7298.
5. Express Medals
Express Medals runs a dedicated cross country medal category out of East Hartford, Connecticut, with free continental US shipping and very fast dispatch on stock designs. When a meet director discovers a shortfall the week of the race, their speed on unpersonalized stock is worth knowing about. Website: expressmedals.com. Phone: (855) 633-2570.
6. Trophy Depot
Trophy Depot carries multiple cross country specific medal and trophy designs at aggressive price points, with free engraving up to 40 letters and free ground shipping on orders over $100. For budget conscious youth meets awarding deep into the field, their per piece pricing helps the math. Website: trophydepot.com. Phone: 800-286-7096.
The companies listed above reflect editorial opinion only and are not ranked in any particular order of preference or quality beyond the first position. This list is independent and should not be taken as an official endorsement or paid ranking. Contact details are accurate at the time of publication but are subject to change.
Mistakes That Show Up on Race Day
Ordering shallow is the big one. If your meet advertises top 25 medals and race day registration runs higher than expected, you cannot conjure medal number 26. Order to your published awards structure plus a buffer, because unawarded stock medals keep for next year and an empty handed 25th place finisher does not.
Mixing designs across tiers is another. A champion medal from one catalog and placement medals from another rarely match in ribbon, finish, or size, and the awards table shows it. Buy the full structure as a set.
Skipping the race name to save a few cents per medal is the third. The difference between a generic medal and one engraved with your invitational’s name is what turns your race into an annual fixture runners circle on the calendar. It is the cheapest marketing a meet can buy.
And do not forget the coaches and the finish line crew. A season of 6 a.m. buses earns more than a handshake. A plaque at the banquet costs little and means a lot.
One more logistical note from meet hosts who have learned it the hard way. Awards ceremonies at invitationals happen fast, often while later races are still running, so medals should arrive sorted by race and tier rather than in one bulk carton. Ask your provider whether they can pack by division. The shops that say yes without hesitation have done enough meet orders to know why you are asking, and that answer tells you something about who you are dealing with.
Making the Call
Match the vendor to the order. A fully custom medal for a marquee invitational points you toward a specialist. A complete meet order with placement depth, custom champion medals, team trophies, and banquet plaques points you toward a full service shop with in house engraving, because single vendor coordination is what keeps an October deadline safe. Ask where the engraving happens, ask for pricing at your real quantities, and ask what the correction process is if a name or date is wrong. Good shops have quick answers to all three.
Cross country runners earn every medal the hard way, over hills and through weather. Give them hardware that holds up. Order in the summer, buy the structure as a matched set, and if you want one call to cover the entire meet, Viking Awards has been taking that call since 1973.
Phone: (630) 833-1733
Website: viking-awards.com