Strictly speaking, the women's indoor track team lost this weekend. When all of the races were over and all of the points were counted, Rutgers had 53, Princeton had 66, and Connecticut had 70.
And if this were an entry in a sports almanac or an Ivy League yearbook or merely a box score, where the only kind of speaking done is strict speaking, that would be pretty much all there is to say about what happened on Saturday at Jadwin.
And that would be a shame.
Because despite the somewhat disappointing end result of the meet, there were quite a few bright spots for the Tigers, quite a few individual performances suggestive of the many good things that appear to be coming in a season that has barely begun.
Perhaps the brightest of the bright spots was senior captain Lauren Simmons' school record-setting race in the 500 meter event (1:13.93), but senior captain Catherine Casey's dominating victory in the 3000 meter event was not far behind.
After Casey crossed the finish line, the next non-Princeton runner had a full 32 seconds to think about how badly she had been beaten.
Other Tiger winners were sophomore Laura Shackelton in the 5000 meters (18:15.96), senior Natalie Deffenbaugh in the 800 meters (2:19.20), sophomore Susan Coltman in the long jump (5.45 m), and freshman Brooke Minor in the high jump (1.70 m).
The Princeton relay teams also dominated, picking up wins in the 4X400m (3:55.20) and 4X800m (9:29.37) events.
And of course the whole story is not told in the first-place finishes. Sophomore Pilar Marin came back from over a year of injury and illness to finish second in the mile and Tiger runners finished in the top three in the 3000m, 5000m, 1000m, and the long jump.
Further softening the blow of the Tigers' loss is the fact that they were shorthanded.
According to Simmons, "We were missing some people that are pretty consistent scorers for us and they will be back for the rest of the meets this season."
Though it would certainly have been nice for Princeton to win the meet this weekend, its loss was as little a loss as a Pyrrhic victory is a victory.
If the Tiger runners continue to compete as well as they did Saturday, and if the runners expected to return to action do so, there should be plenty of victories in the future.
Or, to quote Simmons, who knows about winning races, "I think we look better than ever going into this season."
Princeton's next meet will be January 26. The Tigers head to New York City to compete at the Armory Invitational.
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