That broke down to five golds, three silvers and six bronzes, as the region’s best young rowers footed it with the best of their national peers at Lake Ruataniwha.
John McGlashan College’s Jack McLaughlan was to the fore, claiming gold in both the under-17 single sculls and double sculls.
He rowed 7min 57.66sec to edge past Jason Nel, of St Peter’s College Cambridge, by 0.25sec.
McLaughlan then teamed with Nic Chamberlain to row 7min 07.44sec to claim gold in the double sculls of the same grade.
The pair was just under 1sec ahead of Cambridge High School’s Sean Hale and Matthew McHugh.
His performance enabled him to win his school a new $15,000 skiff, which is awarded to the winning schools of both the boys and girls under-17 single sculls categories.
John McGlashan was also impressive in the under-16 double sculls, Will Edwards and Will Turner rowing 7min 05.95sec to take gold.
They were trailed by Otago Boys’ High School’s Jack Webber and Oliver Haig, who finished third in 7min 08.43.
Dunstan High School claimed six medals and dominated the under-15 girls grade.
Most impressively, it was first and third in the under-15 girls coxed quadruple sculls 7min 56.95sec and 8min 00.85sec.
The majority of those rowers then combined to collect gold by nearly 5sec in the octuple sculls.
It finished in 7min 13.33sec, while St Hilda’s Collegiate also performed well in the race, finishing in 7min 20.38sec to take bronze.
MacKenzie Ealson and Paige Furrie — who were in both gold medal crews — also managed a silver in the double sculls.
They finished in 8min 06.97sec to edge St Peter’s Cambridge duo Atlanta Bruce and Emma Stead by 0.06sec.
Not to be outdone, Meg Creagh and Skye Morton then claimed the bronze medal in the under-16 double sculls, in 7min 54.73sec.
A gold in the novice coxed quadruple sculls rounded out Dunstan’s medals.
Wakatipu High School capped a strong week with a silver and a bronze.
Oliver Haig and Oliver Bisley won silver in the under-15 boys double sculls in 7min 40.01sec.
They were also part of the crew which finished third in the coxed quadruple sculls in the same grade.
Columba College also claimed a medal with a bronze in the girls under-17 coxed four.
Several other Otago crews put up a strong fight, too.
Bayfield High School’s Eva Hofmans was the closest, missing out on a medal in the under-17 girls single sculls by just over half a second.
Otago Boys’ duo Ben Mason and Tom Ryan were fourth in the under-17 double sculls, while Dunstan also managed a fourth in the under-18 girls novice coxed quadruple sculls.
