University of Georgia Athletics
Scott Off To Fast Start
September 23, 2026 | Cross Country, The Frierson Files
By John Frierson
Staff Writer
Addison Scott had to make an atypical choice many years ago: running or sailing. While many collegiate student-athletes have to pick their main sport at some point, they're not often choosing between two as different as cross country/track and being out on the water in a small sailboat.
"At some point around my freshman or sophomore year of high school, I was sailing and running, and I was like, well, I'm better at running," said Scott, a sophomore from Houston, Texas, who spent years sailing in Galveston Bay, about 45 minutes from home.
Scott clearly made the right choice. After doing track and cross country in high school, she signed with Georgia and had solid freshman seasons in both despite being limited by an injury. She scored in a pair of cross country meets last fall, and on the track she finished third in the 5,000 meters at the indoor Orange & Purple Invite, second outdoors in the 3,000 at the Torrin Lawrence Memorial (running the 10th-fastest time in program history) and 16th in the 5,000 at the Wake Forest Invite.
So far this cross country season, Scott has been much improved from a year ago. In Georgia's season-opening meet on Sept. 4, the Covered Bridge Open in Boone, N.C., Scott won the race with a time of 17:22.00. It was her fastest time ever on a 5K course by a whopping 28 seconds.
"It was a good opener, a good start for all of us," she said of winning the race and leading the Bulldogs to a first-place finish. "I think we all went out and pushed and did our best."
Last Saturday, at the John McNichols Invitational in Terre Haute, Ind., Scott and fellow sophomore Anastasia Nilsson paced the Bulldogs to a 13th-place finish on the 6K course. The event, held at the LaVern Gibson Championship Cross Country Course, is a preview of the NCAA Championships that will be held there on Nov. 21. Nilsson was the top Georgia finisher, placing 47th overall with a time of 21:04.7, while Scott finished in a 6K personal-best time of 21:13.4, placing 54th.
"I came in last year with high school training, so I think having a whole year of college training definitely makes a difference," she said. "I was injured for a good portion of last year, so I think just getting to go race at all is a lot more fun."
Running comes naturally to Scott, but the jump from high school to college is a big one, both in terms of the competition and the training. Doing eight-plus miles in the morning before class at Georgia, as she did before being interviewed for this story — "It was an easy day, just an easy run, which is nice," she said — followed later in the day by either strength and conditioning workouts or laps on the track, that takes some getting used to.
"It definitely was progressive," she said of the ramp-up to high-mileage training. "I feel like I started out slow, and then I started to build my senior year and then my freshman year here."
Running cross country means undulating terrain and different running surfaces, while running track means flat laps on a single, predictable surface. Scott likes doing both.
"I like that cross country feels more team-focused. It's one race, and you're all working during it as a team. Track is still team-focused, in a different way, but it feels more individual," she said. "I do like the environment of being in a track meet. I think I like them both for different reasons."
If you see Georgia's distance runners out on the sidewalks around town, they're often chit-chatting as they go despite moving at a pace that would leave most of us breathless.
"It's weird how much it becomes normal for you," she said.
Scott said she tends to listen to her teammates more than talk. In races, there's no time for talking, of course, but there is time to think, about strategy and assessing how she's feeling, though she tries to avoid thinking too much.
"I try not to think about how my body's feeling. It usually does not feel great," she said with a laugh.
Scott said she and Georgia's coaches are still evaluating which distance is best for her. It's an ongoing process as she develops as a runner.
"I'm going to figure it out," she said. "I think this track season it will probably be between (3,000 meters), 5K and 10K. Nothing below 3K — my turnover is not that quick."
You have to love running to put in the miles and miles of training that Scott and her teammates do every week. For Scott, what she enjoys most about it depends on the day.
"I think I like that it seems like an outlet sometimes. You don't have to think a lot. I love training with the team, but sometimes, I think doing it on your own is really peaceful, too," she said.
Georgia often trains on some dirt roads around town, away from traffic and noise. Those roads are happy places for Scott — usually.
"One place we run, it's this really long dirt road that's kind of hilly. If you're having a good day, it's fun. If you're having a bad day, those hills are not very fun," she said.
Even on the bad days, she's grateful to have her teammates around her.
"We have a great team and a great team culture, and most of my really good friends are on the team, so I get to see them all the time," she said.
Scott and the Bulldogs have a couple of weeks of training before they wrap up their regular season on Oct. 9 at the Nuttycombe Invite in Madison, Wis.
Staff Writer
Addison Scott had to make an atypical choice many years ago: running or sailing. While many collegiate student-athletes have to pick their main sport at some point, they're not often choosing between two as different as cross country/track and being out on the water in a small sailboat.
"At some point around my freshman or sophomore year of high school, I was sailing and running, and I was like, well, I'm better at running," said Scott, a sophomore from Houston, Texas, who spent years sailing in Galveston Bay, about 45 minutes from home.
Scott clearly made the right choice. After doing track and cross country in high school, she signed with Georgia and had solid freshman seasons in both despite being limited by an injury. She scored in a pair of cross country meets last fall, and on the track she finished third in the 5,000 meters at the indoor Orange & Purple Invite, second outdoors in the 3,000 at the Torrin Lawrence Memorial (running the 10th-fastest time in program history) and 16th in the 5,000 at the Wake Forest Invite.
So far this cross country season, Scott has been much improved from a year ago. In Georgia's season-opening meet on Sept. 4, the Covered Bridge Open in Boone, N.C., Scott won the race with a time of 17:22.00. It was her fastest time ever on a 5K course by a whopping 28 seconds.
"It was a good opener, a good start for all of us," she said of winning the race and leading the Bulldogs to a first-place finish. "I think we all went out and pushed and did our best."
Last Saturday, at the John McNichols Invitational in Terre Haute, Ind., Scott and fellow sophomore Anastasia Nilsson paced the Bulldogs to a 13th-place finish on the 6K course. The event, held at the LaVern Gibson Championship Cross Country Course, is a preview of the NCAA Championships that will be held there on Nov. 21. Nilsson was the top Georgia finisher, placing 47th overall with a time of 21:04.7, while Scott finished in a 6K personal-best time of 21:13.4, placing 54th.
"I came in last year with high school training, so I think having a whole year of college training definitely makes a difference," she said. "I was injured for a good portion of last year, so I think just getting to go race at all is a lot more fun."
Running comes naturally to Scott, but the jump from high school to college is a big one, both in terms of the competition and the training. Doing eight-plus miles in the morning before class at Georgia, as she did before being interviewed for this story — "It was an easy day, just an easy run, which is nice," she said — followed later in the day by either strength and conditioning workouts or laps on the track, that takes some getting used to.
"It definitely was progressive," she said of the ramp-up to high-mileage training. "I feel like I started out slow, and then I started to build my senior year and then my freshman year here."
Running cross country means undulating terrain and different running surfaces, while running track means flat laps on a single, predictable surface. Scott likes doing both.
"I like that cross country feels more team-focused. It's one race, and you're all working during it as a team. Track is still team-focused, in a different way, but it feels more individual," she said. "I do like the environment of being in a track meet. I think I like them both for different reasons."
If you see Georgia's distance runners out on the sidewalks around town, they're often chit-chatting as they go despite moving at a pace that would leave most of us breathless.
"It's weird how much it becomes normal for you," she said.
Scott said she tends to listen to her teammates more than talk. In races, there's no time for talking, of course, but there is time to think, about strategy and assessing how she's feeling, though she tries to avoid thinking too much.
"I try not to think about how my body's feeling. It usually does not feel great," she said with a laugh.
Scott said she and Georgia's coaches are still evaluating which distance is best for her. It's an ongoing process as she develops as a runner.
"I'm going to figure it out," she said. "I think this track season it will probably be between (3,000 meters), 5K and 10K. Nothing below 3K — my turnover is not that quick."
You have to love running to put in the miles and miles of training that Scott and her teammates do every week. For Scott, what she enjoys most about it depends on the day.
"I think I like that it seems like an outlet sometimes. You don't have to think a lot. I love training with the team, but sometimes, I think doing it on your own is really peaceful, too," she said.
Georgia often trains on some dirt roads around town, away from traffic and noise. Those roads are happy places for Scott — usually.
"One place we run, it's this really long dirt road that's kind of hilly. If you're having a good day, it's fun. If you're having a bad day, those hills are not very fun," she said.
Even on the bad days, she's grateful to have her teammates around her.
"We have a great team and a great team culture, and most of my really good friends are on the team, so I get to see them all the time," she said.
Scott and the Bulldogs have a couple of weeks of training before they wrap up their regular season on Oct. 9 at the Nuttycombe Invite in Madison, Wis.
Assistant Sports Communications Director John Frierson is the staff writer for the UGA Athletic Association and curator of the ITA Men's Tennis Hall of Fame. You can find his work at: Frierson Files.
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