John Paul College rowers put in strong results on the first day of the Maadi Cup with one crew progressing straight to an A Final.
The highlight of the day for Rotorua crews was the JPC girls under 16 coxed quad.
The crew (Olivia Ashby, Angela O'Sullivan, Grace Eriksen, GoerginaHyde and Delaney Philips) held off a strong challenge from Hamilton's Hillcrest High to win the heat by a boat length in a time of 7:41.85.
The result is very important as the crew progress straight to the A final on Friday while Hillcrest go into a repechage. It is also a reversal of the North Island Secondary School Championships where Hillcrest beat JPC in the final.
During the year, JPC have also battled it out for honours in this event with an equally talented crew from Western Heights High.
The Western Heights crew rowed in the heat following JPC, and finished third in a time of 7:55.99.
The other highlight of the day was two rows by Natalie Hill. She and Olivia Ashby were pipped at the finish line in the girls double sculls to finish second.
They recorded a time of 8:10.26, just 0.8 sec behind the heat winner.
They now race a repechage and need to finish in the top two to make an A final.
Hill showed her finishing strength in the girls under 18 single sculls. With 500m to go Hill was sitting back in third place, but after a strong sprint ended up winning the heat in a time of 8:36.66
The other notable result was the under 18 novice double where Lewis Morrell and Mathew Bennett from Western Heights High finished second in their heat and now progress to a repechage.
Of the 18 events Rotorua crews raced in on day one, 14 progress to later stages in the regatta.
