Six swimming teams from around the commonwealth competed at the Cumberland Valley Holiday Invite recently, including the Emmaus Hornets.

In a tight finish, Cumberland Valley won the event with a team score of 519 and Souderton edged Emmaus 481-480 in the battle for second place.

Griffin Messenlehner and Brady King turned in first-place finishes in individual events for Emmaus with Messenlehner taking the top spot in the 100-yard freestyle and King capturing the 100-yard backstroke.

The 100-yard freestyle was a classic that saw Messenlehner post a personal best time of 46.60, which just bested Souderton’s Giancarlo Bocchino (46.64). In addition to winning the freestyle, Messenlehner placed third in the 200-yard Individual Medley finishing in 2:02.52.

King also had a tight race in the backstroke where he finished in 52.18, leaving him just 0.61 ahead of Chambersburg’s Cristian Pong. Like Messenlehner, King also had a third-place finish in an individual event when he clocked in at 53.54 in the 100-yard butterfly, a personal best for the senior swimmer.

The Hornets had two top-five finishes in relays.

In the 400-yard freestyle relay, Messenlehner and King were partnered with Roman Herman and Graham Lovett and took third place with a time of 3:15.68 for Emmaus. Joe Lyons was the fourth man in the 200-yard freestyle relay along with Messenlehner, King, and Hernan as the Hornets finished fourth. Emmaus’ time of 1:27.79 was just over two seconds behind a team of Souderton swimmers that took the top spot and just 0.79 behind Chambersburg for third place.

Another invitational is next on the schedule for Emmaus (4-1 EPC, 6-2 overall) as the team travels to Lewisburg for the New Year’s Challenge at Bucknell University Saturday. The Hornets are back in their own pool Tuesday to face undefeated Easton (4-0, 4-0) in an EPC matchup.