A large number of Otago rowers have navigated their way through their heats at the Maadi Cup.
Two days into the secondary school national regatta, the heats and about two-thirds of the repechages have been completed.
Thirty-seven crews advanced directly to the next round without having to go through the repechages.
The John McGlashan College under-15 double sculls was a stand-out. The duo of Will Turner and Will Edwards clocked 7min 12.82sec, nearly 8sec faster than the next best crew.
The Columba College under-16 coxed four was similarly dominant. It
finished in 7min 29.29sec to record easily the fastest time.
Seven John McGlashan and five Columba crews gained direct qualification, avoiding the repechage rounds.
That included John McGlashan's Jack McLaughlin, one of four Otago qualifiers in the under-16 boys single sculls.
He finished first in his heat, as did Mount Aspiring College's Sam Pearce and Wakatipu High School's Ben Mason.
St Kevin's College's Logan Docherty finished second in his heat.
In the girls under-16 single sculls, Mount Aspiring's Greer Porter and Cromwell College's Jordyn Robinson both advanced to the quarterfinals.
Five Otago schools qualified for the boys under-17 double sculls quarterfinals directly.
Otago Boys' High School and John McGlashan qualified two crews each in the under-16 double sculls.
Both schools also had crews qualify for the semifinals of the under-15 boys coxed quadruple sculls.
Dunstan High School also had its share of success, with seven crews gaining direct qualification.
The repechages began yesterday afternoon and continue this morning.
The first A finals begin on Friday morning and will be held until Saturday evening.
-By Jeff Cheshire
