A ferocious sprint at the finish put Kyle Harris (Dunstan) into the final at the Maadi Cup rowing regatta at Lake Karapiro yesterday.
Harris won his semifinal in the boys' under-17 single sculls in 7min 33.28sec and was 1.50sec ahead of Garin College, with St Thomas of Canterbury third in 7min 35.90sec.
The final is today.
He was one of five crews from Otago schools who won their semifinals.
The talented Zoe McBride (Kavanagh) had a magic day and progressed to four finals after winning her semifinals yesterday.
McBride looks to be a gold medal prospect in the under-16 single sculls.
She won her heat in 8min 25.65sec, which was the fastest time of the four semifinals.
The third semifinal was won by Hannah Duggan in 8min 30.76sec and she also advanced to the final.
McBride also won her semifinal in the girls' under-17 single sculls in 8min 57.09sec.
Caitlin Lowe (Dunstan) advanced the the final in the event when she finished second in the semifinal in 8min 56.69sec.
McBride and Duggan easily qualified for the under-16 girls' double sculls when they blitzed the field and won in 8min 05.75sec.
They also reached the final of the under-18 lightweight double sculls when they finished second in 8min 37.67sec.
The Otago Girls pair of Caitlin Buist and Cleo Gilmour qualified for the final when they finished third in the same race in 8min 37.70sec.
Two other Dunstan crews made the finals when they finished runner-up in the semifinals.
The boys' under-15 double sculls of Danyon Trask and Reed Frewen advanced when they finished second in their semifinals in 7min 18.80sec.
The girls' under-17 double sculls of Caitlin Lowe and Leah Morait finished second in a fast semifinal in 8min 19.04sec.
The Kearney twins - Johannah and Caitlin, of St Kevin's College - also finished runner-up in their heat in 8min 35.40sec.
Saasha Bruce (Mount Aspiring) was second in her semifinals in the girls' under 18 single sculls in 9min 01.85sec.
Grace Scown (St Hilda's) also finished second in her heat in the same event in 9min 11.17sec to also advance to the final.
Scown and Anna McAslan reached the final of the girls' under-18 double sculls when they finished third in their semifinal in 7min 37.96sec.
James McNicol (Waitaki Boys) reached the final of the boys' under-16 single sculls when he finished second in his semifinal in 8min 16.12sec.
Wakatipu High School, in the Southland centre for rowing, had four crews that reached the finals: Michael Foley and Alex Hall, boys' under-15 double sculls (7min 12.45sec); Kate Gilbert and Olivia Robins, girls' under-18 novice double sculls (8min 40.90sec); Foley, Hall, Marco Dyson, Matt Nicholson and Josh Speight, boys' under-15 quadruple sculls (7min 24.34sec); Gabby Buchanan and Alex Jamieson, girls' under-18 lightweight double sculls (8min 38.64sec), Kate Gilbert and Jordan Howell, girls' under-18 lightweight double sculls.
The finals will be held at Lake Karapiro today and tomorrow.
