It’s true that you can win the battle but lose the war. It’s also true that you can win a bunch of battles and still lose the war. That’s how the latest version of the Parkland and Emmaus swimming rivalry went recently.

The Emmaus boys team took top finishes in eight of the nine individual swimming events and swept the top spot in all three relays. But in the end, the war was won by the Parkland Trojans in the annual rivalry meet that often determines the East Penn Conference title.

Parkland used depth to pull off the victory. Trojan swimmers consistently finish second and third in events to pick up critical team points. That approach gave Parkland the 97-89 win over Emmaus, snapping a streak of 20 straight regular season wins by the Hornets going back to February of 2004. It also leaves the Trojans 4-0 on the season in EPC meets and overall.

In relays, Parkland took second and third in the 200-yard medley relay and the 400-yard freestyle relay. Colton Chung, Ethan Coleman, Thomas Price, and Doug Bell made up the second-place team in the medley relay and Jacob Piccini, Pedro Teran, and Dominic Faenza teamed with Chung in the 400-freestyle relay for a second place finish.

In the 200-yard freestyle relay, Parkland’s Teran and Faenza were matched with Pierce Brundage and Michael Toth to finish second, nearly four seconds ahead of the third-place Emmaus team.

The lone top finish of the night for Parkland came in the 100-yard breaststroke where Coleman beat Emmaus’ Garrett Longbons by .31 seconds.

“We just took our minds off of everything else and focused on each event tonight,” said Jake Piccinni, a freshman who captured second-place swims in the 50 and 100-yard freestyle events and then was a part of the 400-yard freestyle relay team that finished second for Parkland. “It’s an amazing feeling to win this tonight, but we are really focusing on a team championship in districts, to snap their streak there.”

Parkland coach Allison McPeek, in her second rivalry meet with Emmaus, was glad to see the boys team get a win over Emmaus and she believes it is going to go a long way in feeding their confidence.

“Now they can swim the rest of the season knowing that there is still a lot of work to do, but they also know that they can beat a team that is perennially the best in the area,” said McPeek. “I really liked their focus and determination tonight and I hope they really let this sink in tonight. This will be something they can think back to for districts and even beyond.”

The Parkland depth began to show in the 50-yard freestyle when Emmaus’ Griffin Messenlehner took the top spot, but Piccini and Price took second and third and Eric Friday finished fourth for the Trojans to give Parkland an edge in team points at 24-22.

The meet then went into diving, where Parkland flexed its muscles and gave their team a distinct advantage in the rest of the meet.

Bradley Kunz took the top spot in diving with a score of 250.25, Harry Epstein was second with a 183.55 mark and Charlie Epstein completed the diving sweep of the top three spots with a 174.25.

“After the diving, we kind of knew we had it,” admitted Piccini. “We knew we just had to keep doing what we were doing, and we were going to win.”

After the New Year, Parkland has a dual meet at Northampton (3-0 EPC, 4-0 overall) before taking part in the New Year’s Invitational at Bucknell University on January 6.

Parkland 97, Emmaus 89

200 medley relay: 1. Emmaus (Griffin Messenlehner, Carson Mosel, Anderson Borst, Garrett Longbons) 1:39.85, 2. Parkland (Colton Chung, Ethan Coleman, Thomas Price, Doug Bell) 1:40.71, 3. Parkland (Gabe Krizel, Piere Brundage, Eric Friday, Dannik Khais) 1:42.19;

200 freestyle: 1. Logan Shriver (E) 27.38, 2. Pedro Teran (P) 27.89, Dominic Faenza 28.15;

200 individual medley: 1. Logan Hartman (E) 2:00.27, 2. Colton Chung (P) 2:02.89, 3. Anderson Borst (E) 2:03.49;

50 freestyle: 1. Griffin Messenlehner (E) 22.20, 2. Jacob Piccini (P) 22.22, 3. Thomas Price (P) 23.26;

Diving: 1. Bradley Kunz (P) 250.25, 2. Harry Epstein (P) 183.55, 3. Charlie Epstein (P) 174.25;

100 butterfly: 1. Anderson Borst (E) 52.99, 2. Colton Chung (P) 54.57, 3. Thomas Price (P) 55.22;

100 freestyle: 1. Griffin Messenlehner (E) 48.70, 2. Jocob Piccini (P) 48.81, 3. Dannik Khais (P) 49.09;

500 freestyle: 1. Logan Shriver (E) 4:48.44, 2. Dominic Faenza (P) 4:54.73, 3. Pierce Brundage (P) 4:55.94;

200 freestyle relay: 1. Emmaus (Anderson Borst, Julian Vlaeminck, Reid Lovett, Logan Shriver) 1:31.05, 2. Parkland (Pedro Teran, Pierce Brundage, Michael Toth, Dominic Faenza) 1:33.05, 3. Emmaus (Robbie Barnes, Matthew Sirignano, Brady Hazlett, Joe Lyons) 1:36.79;

100 backstroke: 1. Logan Hartman (E) 54.29, 2. Pedro Teran (P) 54.76, 3. Gabe Krizel (P) 57.28;

100 breaststroke: 1. Ethan Coleman (P) 1:02.34, 2. Garrett Longbons (E) 1:02.65, 3. Pierce Brundage (P) 1:04.67.

400 freestyle relay: 1. Emmaus (Logan Shriver, Julian Vlaekinck, Griffin Messenlehner, Logan Hartman) 3:16.49, 2. Parkland (Jacob Piccini, Colton Chung, Pedro Teran, Dominic Faenza) 3:19.11, 3. Parkland 3:25.13.