Ever since she was young, 20-year-old Emily Reich knew she belonged on the water.

“I started sailing at the East Chop yacht club when I was only eight years old, after my mom brought us here to the Island. Normally they don’t let you start sailing until you’re 10. But they let me try and I took to it . . . I was comfortable out there. I was at home. And I’ve been around boats ever since,” she said.

Two weeks ago, Ms. Reich, now a sophomore at Old Dominion in Norfolk, Va., finished third as a crew member in the Intercollegiate Sailing Association women’s national championship in Madison, Wisc. But it wasn’t long ago she could be found here on the Island, learning her trade by sailing in Lagoon Pond or around East Chop.

In a recent telephone interview with the Gazette, Ms. Reich discussed her formative years on the Vineyard. She admitted that were times as a youth when sailing seemed like a chore — all the hoisting, jibing and tacking became a bit of a grind. But she stuck with it, and when she entered the high school and joined the sailing team she quickly became one of the squad’s strongest sailors.

In her freshman year in high school she was named most improved; by sophomore year she was named most valuable crew member, and by her senior year she was captain of the team (but not the boat; she competes as a crew member on the two-man 420s).

And when she began looking at colleges, the former honor student and 2008 graduate placed schools with a strong sailing program at the top of her list. She finally settled on Roger Williams University in Rhode Island, a perennial powerhouse in collegiate sailing, but when she started there, things didn’t quite go as she planned.

“Several factors went into me wanting to leave after my first year. I met some great people, but I’ll just say it wasn’t the best fit. So I tried to find a different school, maybe where it was a little warmer, that still had great sailing. I had a tough choice,” she said.

She settled on Old Dominion, and the decision paid off. She quickly become a key contributor to the sailing team after transferring, and was soon sailing every day. “I was able to knock the rust off pretty quick. After sailing competitively for so many years, it felt good to be back out there,” she said.

She also came under the tutelage of Mitch Brindley, head coach of the Old Dominion sailing team, who has built the Monarchs into a national powerhouse. The university has won four national championships in the last eight years under Mr. Brindley, and the women’s team has qualified for nine of the last 10 national championship regattas.

Coach Brindley also served as personal coach for Anna Tunnicliffe during her Olympic campaign and gold medal win at the 2008 Olympics in Beijing.

With this momentum, Ms. Reich quickly became a key member of the Old Dominion women’s eighth-ranked women’s team and 13th ranked co-ed team.

The women’s team, ranked as high as number one this year led by junior skipper Stephanie Roble and senior skipper Katrina Williams, finished fourth in the MAISA Women’s Championships to qualify for nationals, while the co-ed team qualified by winning fourth place at the western semifinal in Seattle, Wash.

In the women’s nationals held May 25 through 28 in Wisconsin, Reich was paired with Roble as her skipper, and the pair overcame a talented field and poor wind conditions to help the team take third overall. The team was paced by Bermudian skipper Katrina Williams and freshman crew Shannon Wilkins, who took first place in the B division, but sealed the win with the fifth place finish by Roble and Reich in the A division.

Their 78 points helped push the Monarchs past Tufts for third, while the College of Charleston took gold for the second time in five years, with a convincing 25-point margin over Boston College. Hosted by the University of Wisconsin on Lake Mendota in Madison, the championships consisted of the top 18 intercollegiate teams in the U.S.

The co-ed races, meanwhile, were pushed back due to lack of wind.

For an Island girl who has spent most her life competing on the water, taking third in the national collegiate championships was a high point.

“I always hoped I would get to a place like this, competing on a national level, with the best sailors in the country. But there were times I wasn’t sure. Growing up on an Island, you learn the waters around you. But once you start sailing in different waters, with different people, things get more difficult,” she said.

And she’s not done yet. She still has two years left at Old Dominion, and hopes to continue racing after college.

“Whether I continue to sail competitively, I really can’t say. But I am sure I will keep sailing my whole life. I love it. I want to wake up on a boat for the rest of my life, if possible. But we’ll see. You never know where the winds will take you,” she said.