The St Kevin's girls eight of Johanna and Caitlan Kearney, Bethany Robertson, Georgia Tangney, Eilee Robinson, Lucy Fauth, Katherine Hope, Loren Haggerty and cox Sophie Moynihan won their heat to go straight to the final of the under-17 girls eight.
The strong-finishing crew won the heat in 6min 53.93sec to beat Baradene College by 4sec.
The Owen Gould-coached rowers narrowly missed qualifying in the under-18 eight when they finished 3.35sec behind Christchurch Girls' in 7min 08.02sec.
They race the repechage in this event today.
The in-form eight came into the championships after winning the under-17 and under-18 eights at the South Island secondary schools championships earlier this month.
The Kearney twins, Johanna and Caitlan, also qualified for the semifinals in the under-17 double sculls when they finished runner-up to Hillcrest in 7min 58.38sec.
The other Otago-based crew to go straight to a final was the Mount Aspiring College boys under-18 novice coxed four of Jamie Bowley, Jarrod Wellman, Elliott Meldrum, James Redai and Bradley Jackson who won their heat in 7min 19sec ahead of Tauranga Boys'.
Zoe McBride (Kavanagh) and Caitlin Lowe (Dunstan) won their heats of the girls under-17 single sculls to qualify for the semi-finals.
McBride, the South Island secondary schools champion, won her heat by 15sec in 8min 22.92sec.
Lowe won the other heat in 8min 36.56sec.
McBride also won the girls under-16 single sculls heat in 8min 33.16 sec and Claudia Grave (St Hilda's) was third in 8min 55.36sec.
Both qualify for the semifinals.
Hannah Duggan (Kavanagh) was runner-up in her single sculls heat in 8min 41.78sec and also qualified for the semifinals.
McBride teamed with Duggan to win the girls lightweight under-18 double sculls heat in 7min 59.27sec to reach the semifinals.
They also won their heat in the girls under-16 heavyweight double sculls in 8min 07.02sec.
It is the race in which they won a bronze medal in the girls under-15 event at last season's Maadi Cup at Lake Ruataniwha.
The St Hilda's combination of Grace Scown and Anna McAslan won their girls under-18 double sculls heat in 7min 42.83sec.
They were 8.83sec ahead of the Dunstan combination of Leah Morait and Caitlin Lowe who also qualified for the semifinals.
The St Hilda's crew won a bronze medal in the women's under-19 event at the national championships on Lake Ruataniwha last month.
Other winners of single sculls heats were Kyle Harris (Dunstan), boys under 17 in 7min 43.04sec; Bryce Abernethy (Taieri College), boys under 17 in 7min 19.49sec; Saasha Bruce (Mount Aspiring College), girls under 18 in 8min 13.11sec; James McNicol (Waitaki Boys'), under 16 in 8min 07.98sec.
