The Hamilton Boys' High School under-18 four will be out to cap off a golden day for Waikato crews at the Maadi Cup today.

The coxed four of Ryan Rasmussen, Alex Bardoul, Drikus Conradie, Tom Healey and coxswain Hayden Shaw want to recapture the Springbok Shield title the school won from 2005-2010 when they contest the final at Lake Karapiro.

But they will face stiff competition from fellow Waikato crew St Paul's Collegiate, after Cameron Bartley, Matthew Husband-Dravitzki, Will Guest, Alex Hargreaves and cox Jackson Brown also won their heat earlier this week.

Westlake BHS and St Kentigern College are also title contenders after impressive repechage wins on Wednesday on what promises to be a thrilling first day of finals at the Aon-sponsored national secondary schools regatta which finishes on Saturday afternoon.

St Margaret's College will start as heavy favourites to win the Dawn Cup for the girls' U18 coxed four after the South Island champs dominated their heat rivals.

Hillcrest High School will be the crew to beat in the girls' U15 coxed quad this morning after winning their semifinal yesterday by over five seconds while being over seven seconds faster than the winner of the second semifinal.

The same crew of Madison Wright, Paige Hallam, Zoe Smith and Sacha Arai-Swale - with Shania Brooks replacing Madison Marchioni - as coxswain, were again impressive in winning their U15 coxed four semi ahead of Waikato Diocesan, with both boats recording a faster time than the other semifinal victors, Rangi Ruru Girls' School.

The St Peter's School girls' U18 double sculls combination of Isabella Cochrane and Carly Baars will chase a medal today in an event Epsom Girls Grammar are favoured to win, while their schoolmates in the boys' U16 coxed quad will pursue gold after being the fastest crew of the eight boats that qualified for the final yesterday.

HBHS will have two crews in the U16 coxed four final, with their No 1 and No 2 crews being separated by just 0.53 seconds in winning their respective semis, with the No 2 crew gaining minor bragging rights with the quicker time. 

The school's U15 eight are poised for a major clash with Marlborough Boys' College and Auckland Grammar in their final after closely-contested semis.

Hamilton Girls' High School's Georgia Allen will be after a medal in the U17 single sculls today after a win in her semi yesterday.

The finalists for the U18 eights, which are the climax of the six-day regatta tomorrow afternoon, were decided late yesterday. 

Waikato Dio won their repechage yesterday to join favourites St Margaret's in the girls' final while Westlake BHS came through  yesterday's repechages strongly to make the boys' final which features heat winners HBHS and Napier BHS.

ian.anderson@fairfaxmedia.co.nz

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