Woody Kirkwood was the pick of the Otago single scullers through the first two days at the Maadi Cup on Lake Karapiro.
The John McGlashan pupil won his heat in the boys under-17 section in style, crossing the line more than 2sec ahead of Kieran McLean (Mt Albert Grammar) in 7min 35.84sec.
Riley Bruce (Mt Aspiring College) also impressed in his heat, winning in 7min 49.44sec, while Tom Grave (John McGlashan) was second in his heat in 7min 42.37sec.
Lucy Geddes (Dunstan High School) dominated her heat in the girls under-17 single sculls, powering to the finish line in 8min 23.77sec. Otago Girls' High School's under-18 double sculls pair of Juliette Alm-Lequeux and Karley Wilden-Palms shone in their heat.
The pair won in 7min 37.39sec, well clear of Kylah Bardsley and Claire Hyme, of St Peter's School.
Otago Boys' High School's under-18 coxed eight finished fourth in its heat in 6min 31.82sec, well off the pace set by Hamilton Boys' High School (6min 12.77sec), which has won the Maadi Cup the past two years.
With the repechages scheduled to finish late this afternoon, there is still a raft of Otago crews in contention two days into the six-day regatta.
Quarter and semifinals will be raced tomorrow, before the medals are decided on Friday and Saturday.
There are 149 rowers from 12 Otago schools competing.
