GREENVILLE, S.C. -- Furman senior Cameron Ponder will compete in the 3,000m Saturday at the NCAA Indoor Track and Field Championships, which will be held at the Birmingham CrossPlex in Birmingham, Ala.

A native of Winston-Salem, N.C., Ponder is one of 16 athletes who will run in the event, which is scheduled for 6 p.m. ET.  The championships will be broadcast live on ESPN3 and in the ESPN app, and live results will be available at www.furmanpaladins.com.

This marks the second-consecutive year that Ponder has qualified in the 3,000m.  He ranks 14th nationally with a time of 7:45.56 in the event, a career best which he posted Feb. 19 at the JDL DMR Invitational.  He earned first-team All-American accolades in the event last season after recording a time of 7:54.56 to take eighth place at the national championships, becoming the fifth All-American in the history of the Furman men's indoor track and field program.  

Ponder, who has recorded four sub-4:00 mile marks during his career, won the mile with a time of 3:59.75 at the Southern Conference Championships in February.  He also competed as a member of the Paladins' DMR team, which took silver at the event.

"Cameron has been looking very good since his strong showing at the SoCon Championships two weeks ago," said Furman head coach Robert Gary.  "He is extremely focused on bettering his eighth place finish from last year."