Steamboat Springs — When it comes to running races against hundreds of other athletes across uneven, difficult terrain, there will always be problems.

One of the problems new for the Steamboat Springs High School cross country team this year didn’t have anything to do with the actual races at the team’s first meet of the season Friday at Arapaho Warrior Invitational in Littleton.

With 42 members, the largest the team’s been in recent memory, there’s a question of “can we fit all these kids on just one bus?”

“We’ve been growing, and we’re really excited,” coach Erik Ramstad said. “The kids are enjoying it and having a good experience. It’s just been a ton of fun. Over half the kids in the race had never raced for Steamboat in cross country.”

He said they performed pretty well in their initial dip into the competitive cross country pool.

The girls team, with 26 racers, led the way Friday, and at the front was a familiar face, sophomore Tatum Burger. She placed 15th in the 183-runner varsity girls race, finishing the tough 5-kilometer course in 20 minutes, 13 seconds.

Kathleen O’Connell was 22nd in 20:55, Alex Tumminello 40th in 21:40 and Abigail Miller 50th in 22:00:00.

“Tatum and Kathleen and Alex and Abigale, they really ran fantastic,” Ramstad said. “Our girls really gave a fantastic performance.”

Temsup Techarukpong came in behind them at 137th in 24:29 and Isabel Feldmann was 156th in 25:12.

The girls team finished ninth overall out of 26 teams.

Peter Myller was tops on the boys side, placing 126th in 19:30.

“That was his best-ever 5K time, which was really exciting,” Ramstad said. “He really put a lot of time into training this summer.”

Ricky Brown was 189th, Ethan Labriola 198th, Silas Axtel 206th, Christian Traverse 208th, River Ludwick 209th and Max Gamber 210th.

The rest of Steamboat’s expansive team took part in junior varsity, sophomore and freshmen races.

Mackenzie Gansmann led the way in the open girls race, placing 38th. Winter Boese was 36th, best on the team in the girls freshman/sophomore race with teammate Kandice Kittinger one spot and three seconds behind.

Charles Leech, meanwhile, was the team’s top runner in the boys freshman/sophomore race, placing 126th.

Next up for the team is a trip Friday to the Liberty Bell Invitational, also in Littleton.

To reach Joel Reichenberger, call 970-871-4253, email jreichenberger@SteamboatToday.com or follow him on Twitter @JReich9