5 things to watch for this week

1. Bengals in 'Boro: The NFL stars in stripes bring training camp to Miami Valley fans with a practice Monday at Springboro High School. The free session begins at 5:30 p.m. and is open to the public (no passes or tickets required). Parking is $5 and early arrival is suggested with anticipated traffic congestion. Seating capacity at Springboro is about 5,000 and additional standing room is available (no folding chairs permitted).

2. Lions in playoffs: The Dayton Dutch Lions extended their season by reaching the USL Pro postseason, a first for the organization. No. 8 Dayton travels to play top-seeded Richmond 7 p.m. Saturday in the quarterfinals. The Lions dropped both meetings this season.

3. Earnhardt at Shadybowl: Bobby Dale Earnhardt, the grandson of NASCAR Hall of Fame member Dale Earnhardt, is expected to race at Shadybowl Speedway on Saturday. The son of Kerry Earnhardt (and Dale Jr.'s nephew) will run the late model division at the 3/10th-mile paved oval in Champaign County. It's the second visit to the Miami Valley and third race on area tracks this summer for Earnhardt. Racing in the ARCA Truck Series, he finished fifth at Winchester Speedway on June 29 and 10th at Kil-Kare Speedway on July 5.

4. Pigskin preview: Want the inside info on the Greater Western Ohio Conference? Then check out the GWOC football coaches show 5 p.m. Sunday at Fricker's on Woodman Avenue. The event will also be broadcast on 1410-AM. Each of the 18 head coaches will be interviewed along with GWOC commissioner Eric Spahr.

5. Gold medal meet: It's not every day an Olympic gold medalist comes to watch an area cross country meet. It'll happen again Saturday for the Bob Schul Invitational at Lowery Field in West Milton. Schul, the only American to win the Olympic gold medal in the 5,000 meters, claimed gold at the 1964 Olympics in Tokyo. The West Milton native also excelled for Miami University. As for the meet, it starts at 9 a.m. with the high school runners.

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