The Ty Teigen Memorial Barrel Race provides barrel racers in Northern Colorado and the surrounding area the rare opportunity to run at added money. One-hundred percent of the proceeds from the barrel race go towards the Colorado Ovarian Cancer Alliance (COCA), an organization committed to helping cancer patients on all fronts—education/research, financial assistance, advocacy, counseling, etc. This single barrel race raised about $8,000 for COCA in Taryn Lynn (Ty) Teigen’s memory, making it one of the largest single fundraisers in the state.

One felt Ty Teigen’s love for the sport of barrel racing within the walls of Double Check Arena on July 27, 2024. RC Cuellar, who organizes and produces the event, ensured each contestant felt her sincere gratitude for their entry fee. Casey Stichter also helped to enhance the quality of the event by helping to find sponsorships for the added money and plethora of prizes in each class. The winner of the open received a Robbie Phillips saddle, buckle, and cinch jacket. The winners of each “D” in the open, champion of the youth, senior, novice horse, futurity, and pee wee (Blair Bath) received buckles and jackets as well.

Ty fought her cancer from 2009-2012. Ovarian cancer, like many other forms of cancer, flies under the radar. In true cowgirl fashion, Ty had “felt colicky” prior to the official diagnosis. A visit to the doctor and several tests confirmed her intuition.

RC hopes to keep the kind and loving spirit of her friend Ty alive through the memorial race. Ty’s willingness to help a fellow competitor and love for the horse and sport of barrel racing stays alive as the race celebrated its 12th year.

Open Divisional Champions: 1D Kim Schulze, 15.537, $1,505. 2D Selina Wiseman, 16.061, $1,254. 3D Preston Mackey, 16.562, $1,003. 4D Stephanie Brocker, 17.037, $753. 5D Marlene Wade, 17.555, $502.

Youth Divisional Champions: 1D Sloan Thompson, 15.932, $273. 2D Savannah Roberts, 16.603, $234. 3D Adelee Gearhead, $156. 4D Addisyn Johnson, 18.688, $117.

Senior Divisional Champions: 1D Kelly Yates, 15.674, $361. 2D Lesile Thomas, 16.249, $258. 3D (tie) Janet Baughman and Kerri Lemons, 16.686, $137.50. 4D Carey Mackey, 17.213, $129.

Novice Horse Champions: 1D Sydney Schleich, 16.285, $298. 2D Natalie Irias, 16.997, $256. 3D Haley Scheer, 17.515, $170.

Futurity Champions: 1D Loralee Ward, 15.759, $462. 2D Casey Stichter, 17.087, $308

WPRA Divisional Circuit: 1. Kim Schulze, 15.537, $305. 2. Jamie Donnelly, 15.593, $252. 3. Kayla Jones, 15.666, $202. 4. Loralee Ward, 15.759, $147. 5. Shawnee Williams, 15.861, $95. 6. Miranda Halcomb, 16.022, $53.

UCHealth sued the agency overseeing Medicaid in Colorado on Friday, alleging it mislabeled two of the health network’s hospitals, costing it the fair share of a fee to offset uncompensated care.

The lawsuit, filed in Denver District Court, alleges the Colorado Department of Health Care Policy and Financing mislabeled two UCHealth facilities as publicly owned, rather than private nonprofit hospitals.

UCHealth said the alleged misclassification had reduced the amount that Memorial Hospital in Colorado Springs and Poudre Valley Hospital in Fort Collins received from the state’s health care affordability and sustainability fee.

Neither the lawsuit nor a UCHealth spokesman said how much money the health system believes it is owed.

The state collects the fee from most hospitals and uses it to draw down matching federal funds. It then distributes the collected money and the matching funds based on a formula, to offset the cost of uncompensated care and quality improvement efforts.

It wasn’t clear why the state classified the two hospitals as publicly owned or when that happened. The Department of Health Care Policy and Financing on Friday said its officials are reviewing the lawsuit and couldn’t yet comment.

While the two hospitals lease their buildings from local governments, they don’t receive funding from them, and the private entity UCHealth manages them, said Dan Weaver, a spokesman for the health system. The department declined to change the hospitals’ classifications after UCHealth pointed out in December that they didn’t line up with federal rules about what counts as a public hospital, he said.

If UCHealth wins and increases the share going to two of its hospitals, some other hospitals’ shares would decrease. A broader ruling that made the department change how it classifies hospitals could create even more winners and losers.

“As the state’s largest provider of Medicaid services, UCHealth and our hospitals are dedicated to serving low-income residents of our state and those who may live in a rural area. HCPF’s misclassification of our hospitals puts Medicaid patients at risk by potentially denying funds needed for their care,” he said in a statement.

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Originally Published: August 3, 2024 at 6:00 a.m.

SAN DIEGO — Colorado Rockies designated hitter Charlie Blackmon left Friday night’s game at San Diego with a bruised left eye after he was hit on the left arm and face on an errant throw by Padres second baseman Xander Bogaerts.

Blackmon was running to first on a grounder when he was hit, with the ball bouncing off his arm and into his eye. He flipped off his helmet and grabbed at his face as he went down in pain. He was tended to for several minutes as his eye began to swell. He finally walked off the field and was replaced by Hunter Goodman.

He was hitting .255 with seven homers.

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Originally Published: August 2, 2024 at 9:06 p.m.