It’s an NCAA Division I team that has won has five championships in eight years — that’s better than Ohio State University’s Rose Bowl record. This team has one of the finest training facilities in the country, with expansive practice fields, personal trainers and individual tutors. Reigning national title holders, the team recruits only eight elite student athletes a year.

And one of them is Caitlyn Francis, an 18-year-old from Oak Bluffs who last month signed her letter of intent to join the champion University of Georgia Bulldogs equestrian team.

“This is the equivalent of getting drafted to play basketball for UConn,” said Sarah Doyle, who with Tracey Olsen runs the horseback riding program at Pond View Farm in West Tisbury, where Caitlyn began almost a decade ago. “The kids that apply there have a record of international competition; they are the best of the best.”

The Bulldogs’ assistant equestrian coach, Logan Fiorentino, said more than 200 aspirants sent videos and applications, from which a handful were offered scholarships.

Head coach Meghan Boenig said she looks for “the three A’s: academics, athletics and attitude — and Caitlyn had all three. We are very, very excited about her coming.”

On Monday this week, Caitlyn was where she is seven days a week, striding across the muddy paddocks to catch and saddle a horse at Pond View Farm, taking phone calls in the office, mucking stalls, administering medicine to the horses, encouraging the younger riders as they groom their mounts.

“It’s all I’ve talked about since I went there in February,” she said, while on a break in the tack room. “Once I went to Georgia for the official visit, it was the only place I wanted to go. I had dinner with the team, stayed in the dorm with the girls on the team, saw the facilities . . . they have personal trainers, nutritionists, tutors, all free at their disposal.

Caitlyn Francis and Cal, a horse she rides every day while owner is away. — Mark Alan Lovewell

“The girls were all super nice. I felt really relaxed and not out of place.

“I applied to 10 schools . . . but I didn’t want to go anywhere else.”

A two-time science fair winner, Caitlyn plans to study environmental science.

“We have the luxury of being very selective,” said Coach Boenig. “This is very demanding, with practices every week, workouts, strength and conditioning — it’s similar to a full-time job, and it has to be their first priority after their academics. We try to help them balance it all because we want them to be successful.”

“She won’t have trouble working hard — she has worked hard all her life,” said Ms. Doyle, praising Caitlyn’s parents, Elexis and Erik Wildanger, for sacrificing to help their daughter follow her dream.

Striding familiar paddocks at Pond View Farm. — Mark Alan Lovewell

The senior high school student recalls coming to the barn for the first time, just because her friends were riding. “I was so scared. They all rode so much better than me. But I loved it,” she said, remembering Dottie, the little white pony who gave her her first ride.

“Then when I was about 12, one winter my parents leased this pony, Cassie, for me that I was determined to jump. But she was scared to jump anything, she would just stop.

“I fell off every day.”

Ms. Doyle recalls Cassie. “There was nothing spectacular about Cassie. But she was so dedicated to that pony. By the time Caitlyn was done, she’d practically worn the hair off, grooming her, and that pony was the year-end champion. When Caitlyn finally got too tall — she’s like 5’9” now — and we told her she couldn’t ride Cassie any more, I think she cried for two days . . . [Cassie] never went so well for anyone else.”

Caitlyn’s brown eyes twinkle as she remembers “I was so bad” in her first shows, saying that as a youngster she rode mostly for the love of horses. “Now I’m so competitive,” she said, hastening to add that she also is a good sport. “But I just love showing.” She competes in equitation, which is judged on the rider’s expertise, not on the horse.

The fact that Caitlyn has never owned her own horse has proved to be an advantage. Coach Fiorentino said Caitlyn’s versatility on various mounts would suit the program, where riders have to adapt to horses at each competition.

“Some kids will say, ‘Oh I don’t want to ride that horse,’ ” said Ms. Doyle. “Caitlyn was not like that. If it would go, if it had three legs, she’d be on it.”

Ms. Doyle noted that it was especially hard for Caitlyn to amass a show record to compete at such an elite level, because the Martha’s Vineyard Regional High School has a policy that means students get an automatic 59 for classes where they have four unexcused absences — missing school for such things as an off-Island competition that is not part of a school team. The school has no equestrian team, though Ms. Doyle last year ran a team for middle and high school Island students in an interscholastic competition. She hopes to incorporate such a team into the school system here. “It’s a great opportunity for kids to get more show experience,” Ms. Doyle said.

“I hope that Caitlyn’s recognition, and all the hurdles she’s had to overcome, opens up this opportunity to other riders on the Vineyard and a relationship with the high school that would support this kind of thing.

“People say you can’t do this kind of competition from here, that you can’t do it without a lot of money,” said Ms. Doyle. “Caitlyn has shown that you can.”