performing a sort

I have a mysql query which runs fine and i'm trying to perform a sort on 1 of the columns (priority) which (when that variable is set) returns results from the prevous query with the priority choosen (A, B, C) herre's what I have, but Is thereee a way to do this which wouldn't involve running a query on the database again? (maybe the LIMIT clause)

PHP Code:

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$sql="select *, DATE_FORMAT(a_date, '%m/%d/%Y') as a_date_formatted from company, activity where c_id=a_c_id and medivas ='$poc'  group by medivas";
$query=mysql_query($sql);
$numofrows = mysql_num_rows($query);
if (isset($priority)) {
$sql1="select *, DATE_FORMAT(a_date, '%m/%d/%Y') as a_date_formatted from company, activity where c_id=a_c_id and medivas ='$poc' and priority ='$priority'";
$query1=mysql_query($sql1) or die(mysql_error());
} 


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Thanks!

Maybe I didn't explain what im trying to do. When the page loads and the first query is run, everything is fine and the results are displayed in multiple columns, one of the columns name is priority, whose values are either 1, 2, or 3. What im trying to do is display the results (from the first query) depending on which priority is selected (1, 2, or 3)