After going six weeks without facing a single foe, the men’s and women’s track and field teams returned to Coxe Cage on Saturday to host more than a dozen schools for the College Invitational. While the meet went unscored and did not include any other Ivy League teams, the Bulldogs placed strongly in multiple events, and team members say they are eager for the season to officially start next weekend.

Freshmen on both the men and women’s teams delivered impressive times and distances.

Stefan Palios ’14 took sixth place for the Bulldogs in shot put with a throw of 14.74m. Daniel Jones ’14 finished 10th in the 60-meter dash with a time of 7.08. The distance medley relay team came in sixth place (10:14.67) in part due to the solid performance put in by James Shirvell ’14.

Demetri Goutos ’13, who is a distance runner for Yale, said Shirvell’s performance was the standout performance of the day.

Christopher Ramsey ’13 said that while team members did go home over break, everyone was expected to follow the team’s training schedule.

“It’s just pretty much a continuation of whatever progression you were on prior to break, so when you get back to break you’re ready to roll,” Ramsey added. “People take [training] seriously.”

On the women’s team, Amanda Snajder ’14 won third place (9.29 s) in the 60-meter hurdles. Kristen Proe ’14 took fifth place — 11.03 m — in the triple jump, while Teresa Parent ’14 took sixth with a jump of 10.89m.

The freshmen also contributed to top finishes in the relays. Kate Grace ’10, Jenna Hessert ’14, Nihal Kayali ’13 and Elizabeth Marvin ’13 came in first in the distance medley relay with a time of 11:50.04. Jennifer Downing ’12, Allison Rue ’13, Melissa Chapman ’14 and Sarah Barry ’14 finished just behind their teammates, in second with a time of 12:00.21.

Marvin said their first and second finishes qualify them for the ECAC Championships in early March at the end of the indoor season. She said this qualification was particularly exciting to get so early on in the indoor season.

Kayali said the fact that two teams in the distance medley relay finished at about 12 minutes or faster was indicative of the depth of the distance squad; she added the team did not have this depth in the past.

In the 4 x 800 meter relay, Sarah Barry ’14, Jennifer Donnelly ’13, Clare Kane ’14 and Anne Lovelace ’12 also took first in 9:29.90.

Sophomores Mike Levine ’13 and Adele Jackson-Gibson ’13 also represented their class well. Levine threw 16.73m in the weight throw, while Jackson-Gibson sprinted the 60-meter dash in 7.81 seconds for a fourth-place finish.

Kayali said this meet was a good gauge as to where the team stands heading into scored competition.

Goutos added that the team performed better at this meet this year than last year.

“It’s important to try and go out and score points early on in the season,” Goutos said.

Ramsey described it as a “dress rehearsal” for upcoming meets, including the tri-meet against Harvard and Princeton on Feb. 12.

On Jan. 22, the Elis will face Columbia and Dartmouth in New York City in their first scored Ivy meet of the season.