Johannah and Caitlan Kearney convincingly won their semifinal heat of the girls under-15 double sculls to advance to the final at the prestigious regatta, which has 1950 rowers from 106 schools competing.
Their time of 8min 01.07sec was the second fastest time of the day behind the crew from Invercargill's James Hargest.
It has been a successful regatta for Otago country schools and this was epitomised in the girls under-18 single sculls.
Georgina Galloway (Mount Aspiring) was the only sculler to advance after finishing second in her semifinal heat in 8min 25.23sec.
Her Wanaka schoolmate Saasha Bruce narrowly missed the cut when she finished third in her heat in 8min 27.57sec.
Tegan Simpson (St Kevins) was fourth in her heat in a time of 8min 32.03sec.
The Otago Boys under-16 quadruple sculls of Lachlan Landells, Brodie Hume, Cooper Gilmour, Ken McLellan and cox Aaron Woodhead reached the final when they finished fourth in 6min 52.80sec in the semifinal.
Robbie Mears (Otago Boys) was unlucky to miss the cut when he finished third in his semifinal heat of the boys under-17 single sculls in 7min 39.70sec.
There will be a live television coverage of the two days of finals of the Maadi Cup today and tomorrow on Sky Sport.
