When Addison Price crossed the finish line of the El Reno Cross Country Invitational on Oct. 2, she burst into tears.

The Kingfisher High School senior didn’t win the race.

She didn’t finish last. She didn’t set any records. She didn’t run a PR. But she ran. And that was all that mattered.

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Addison Price blossomed onto the scene during the spring of her sophomore year.

She came on strong in a few events and just missed out on qualifying for state for KHS in both the 800 meter and mile runs.

Price was, however, an integral part of the 3,200 meter relay team that made history.

Joined by Mattie Slezickey, Harper Evans and Scout Snodgrass, Price won a bronze medal at the Class 4A state track and field meet.

The relay team’s time of 9:47.86 also set a new school record, breaking the one set the year before.

That carried over into Price’s junior year when, in the fall, she ran cross country for the first time.

Again, Price made herself an pivotal part of the team and was consistently among its five scoring runners at every meet.

But there was something else. “I started having sharp knee pain,” she said of an issue that arose during the season. “It was my first year running cross country, so I just thought my body was not used to being off the track.”

She consulted with her coach Stefan Seifried and the school’s trainer.

“We thought it was more or less tendonitis to begin with,” Seifried recalls.

Price endured and was part of a team that qualified for the Class 4A state meet and eventually finished eighth.

She was Kingfisher’s fourth-best runner that day and placed 41st overall.

Although cross country season ended in the fall, the pain did not.

She went to the doctor in January 2026 and the news was not good.

“They discovered I had a type of non-cancerous tumor inside the top of my fibula called an aneurysmal bone cyst,” Price said.

But the news was also confusing. Price was told by doctors that the pain in her knee wasn’t being caused by the tumor.

“Though I was disappointed we still hadn’t found out what was wrong with my knee, if I didn’t have that pain, I probably would have never found the tumor until it was already too late,” Price said.

“It was incredibly hard not getting answers as to why I had this knee pain, but it was such a blessing at the same time and I am so grateful for it.”

To remove the tumor, doctors performed a surgery in March in which they scraped it out and then filled the hole with a bone graft.

Not only did it prove painful, but the recovery was long.

“I was on crutches and non-weight bearing for several months,” said Price.

She was eventually able to lose the crutches and slowly was allowed to start putting weight on her leg, but continued with a brace for an extended period of time in order to stabilize the leg.

All that meant no junior track season for Price.

Although she couldn’t compete, Price was there to cheer on her teammates at nearly every meet.

“It was incredibly hard and a very emotional thing for me just watching the races instead of running,” she said.

Perhaps the hardest was in May when Kingfisher returned to the state meet where she had her biggest accomplishment the year before.

The two-mile relay team again qualified for state, but she wasn’t able to be a part of it.

“Watching that race and not getting to compete was really hard on me,” she said. “Don’t get me wrong. I was incredibly proud of my girls and was happy they made it to state again, but it still affected me.”

Price then turned her focus on returning for her senior season of cross country.

It wasn’t a smooth, easy ride.

“After I started walking on my leg again, the pain in my knee returned,” she said.

She was still going to physical therapy and was also riding a stationary bike to build up strength and, as she put it, “slowly progress.”

In late August, after the season had begun, Price was finally able to run for the first time since before her surgery in March.

However, she was nowhere near ready to compete.

“I told her and her mom that we weren’t going to rush it,” Seifried said. “We were going to take our time getting back and she’s going to tell me when she’s ready.”

Price continued running and built up her time and distance each week.

“I still had pain, but it was very minimal,” she said.

Again, she endured, but she also had all but resigned herself to one disappointing likelihood.

“I had accepted that I probably wouldn’t get to compete in any races,” she said.

During the season, there was another development for KHS.

Sophomore Ryann Farrar’s foot injury that lingered from last track season pushed her to the point she couldn’t continue the cross country season.

That left a big hole in Kingfisher’s lineup.

At the same time, Price knew her time was running out and it was wearing on her.

“Being a senior, this whole thing affected me a lot more because it was my last time to get to do this in high school,” she said.

Sensing she might be ready to return, Price asked Seifried and her parents if she could put on the uniform and run at El Reno, which was the team’s final regular season meet.

“She thought it would be OK to test it out and give it a try,” Seifried said.

But he did have at least one parameter for his runner.

“Coach and I agreed that I would run at the meet, but just treat it as a practice,” she said.

“I was so beyond grateful for the chance to get to run.”

Maybe more so than she originally thought as the tears started to flow once she crossed that finish line.

“There were a lot of emotions,” she said. The main one, she said, was she thought it was the last cross country race of her high school career.

“I was happy and so grateful that it was even possible,” Price said. “I couldn’t have asked for the meet to go any better. All my teammates supported me and made it so much better.

“I was so happy that I got to do that one last time, especially because I hadn’t run or raced in a year.”

Kingfisher had a week off between El Reno and last Saturday’s Class 4A regional at Bridge Creek.

Price felt she’d run her last race and was content.

“I got to run one meet my senior year and I was so grateful,” she said. “That was what I had been praying for.”

Still, she continued to work and continued to get better. And, about a week before the regional, Seifried asked Price if she felt she could compete.

“She said, ‘I want to try it,’” Seifried recalled.

“Do you think you can handle it?” he asked her.

“I’ll do whatever I need to do,” she told him. “I’ll do the best I can.”

“That’s all I can ask,” Seifried said.

So Price wasn’t finished with her high school career after all.

She lined up next to her teammates for the 9 a.m. starting gun on a cool Saturday morning.

“I prayed about regionals from the moment I found out that I would be running at the meet,” Price said. “My goal was to push myself as much as I could to help my team make it to state and to get a decent time.”

The top six teams at the regional meet advance to state.

Kingfisher was likely on the bubble and Seifried knew it.

He had experienced runners in seniors Mattie Slezickey and Lily Lunsford. He knew what to expect from them and he got it.

Slezickey finished 13th and Lunsford 26th.

Sophomore Hinsley Brodrick had one season under her belt, but the rest of the squad wasn’t as experienced at the postseason level.

“I was really kind of worried,” Seifried said about the prospect of being one of those six teams.

The final stretch on the Bridge Creek course sees runners emerge from a curve and tree line.

They have a downhill plunge and then finish running up an incline.

After Slezickey and Lunsford finished, Seifriend wasn’t sure what to expect next.

Suddenly, Price emerged from the trees and she wasn’t struggling.

It was the opposite, in fact.

Price was picking off competitors as she made a final kick they couldn’t match.

She passed two runners in the final 100 meters and finished 41st with a time of 14:25. It was a full 1:18 faster than she had run two weeks before.

Brodrick finished 46th for KHS and freshman Kellyn Young was one spot back of her in 47th to round out the team’s scoring runners.

Taya Rodd was 61st and Gisselle Ponce 62nd.

Kingfisher scored 152 points…good for sixth place and a spot at state.

The Lady Jackets were just two points away from fifth and 12 points from fourth.

But they were also just 12 points from seventh and being on the outside looking in.

In other words? “If Addison doesn’t run - and run the way she did we probably don’t make it,” Seifried said.

But she did…and Kingfi sher is back at the state meet.

“I commend her for what she’s been through and how she handled it,” Seifried said. “She’s been through a lot and I know it’s been tough on her.

“But we made sure we did it the right way and it’s got her back to where she is now.”

And so now, as it turns out, Price still isn’t finished with her high school cross country career.

She’s got one more race and she’ll toe the line at 2:30 p.m. Saturday at Carl Albert as she competes against the state’s best 4A runners.

For Price, who said she’d like to run in college, this race will be easy and it won’t matter where she places or how fast she runs.

She’s already run the toughest race of her life to date and she made it through.

And she knows how she did it.

“Trusting that God had a plan for me even when I was unsure of what was going to happen is what got me through this season of my life,” she said. “Recently, I’ve gotten to see how the Lord was working it all out for me. His plan, His timing and His will are all better than mine.

“Now, I can help others who go through similar situations.”