Cameron Ponder's Personal Bests
Honors & Awards
2023 USTFCCCA All-Academic Track & Field
2023 NCAA East Preliminary Qualifier Outdoor Track (3,000m Steeplechase)
2021-22 SoCon Co-Male Athlete of the Year
2021-22 Furman Male Athlete of the Year
2022 NCAA Second Team All-American Indoor Track (3,000m)
2022 All-Southern Conference Indoor Track (Mile, DMR)
2022 USTFCCCA All-Academic Track & Field
2021 SoCon Cross Country Runner of the Year
2021 All-Southern Conference First Team (Cross Country)
2021 USTFCCCA All-Southeast Region (Cross Country)
2021 USTFCCCA All-Academic Cross Country
2021 NCAA First Team All-American Indoor Track (3,000m)
2021 USTFCCCA All-Academic Cross Country
2021 All-Southern Conference Indoor Track (800m)
2021 Southern Conference Indoor Track Champion (Mile)
2021 Southern Conference Outdoor Track Champion (3,000m Steeplechase)
2020-2021 Furman Male Athlete of the Year
2020 All-Southern Conference Cross Country (First Team)
2020 Southern Conference Champion Indoor Track (Mile, Distance Medley Relay)
2019 All-Southern Conference Cross Country (First Team)
2019 All-Southern Conference Indoor Track (Mile, Distance Medley Relay)
2018 Southern Conference Freshman of the Year (Cross Country)
2018 All-Southern Conference Cross Country (First Team)
Senior Year (2022-23): Qualified for the NCAA East Preliminaries in the 3,000m Steeplechase, where he finished 29th with a time of 9:04.50…finished second (8:49.54) in the Steeplechase at the SoCon Outdoor Championship to qualify for the preliminaries…posted a 5,000m personal best of 14:21.63 to finish 12th at the Duke Outdoor Invitational…named to the SoCon Academic Honor Roll and the SoCon Academic All-Conference Team…honored as a member of the USTFCCCA All-Academic Team.
Senior Year (2021-22): Voted the SoCon Co-Male Athlete of the Year…honored as the Furman Male Athlete of the Year for the second-consecutive year…earned an All-America citation in the 3,000m for indoor track for the second-straight season after finishing 11th with a time of 8:03.99 at the NCAA Championships, where the top eight finishers were separated by less than a second…one of only 16 athletes nationwide to qualify for the event…entered the national championship ranked 14th with a time of 7:45.56, a career best which he posted at the JDK DMR Invitational…holds four career sub-4:00 mile marks, including a 3:59.75 which he posted to win the 2022 SoCon title…competed as a member of the 2022 Paladin DMR team which took silver at the SoCon Indoor Championship with a time of 9:59.00…honored as the 2021 SoCon Cross Country Men's Runner of the Year after winning the SoCon individual race with a time of 24:40.0, leading the Paladins to their ninth-straight SoCon title…an All-SoCon first team selection in both cross country and indoor track…finished ninth at the NCAA Southeast Region meet to earn All-Southeast Region accolades and went on to compete at the NCAA Cross Country Championships…won the Furman Invitational individual title and led the Paladins to the Notre Dame Cross Country team title…honored as the SoCon Cross Country Runner of the Month for October and November and won four-consecutive SoCon Indoor Track Athlete of the Week awards…a member of the Furman Student-Athlete Advisory Committee…chosen the SoCon Student-Athlete of the Week on Feb. 2 and March 16…named to the SoCon Academic Honor Roll and the SoCon Academic All-Conference Team…honored as a member of the USTFCCCA All-Academic Team.
Junior Year (2020-21): 2020-21 Furman Male Athlete of the Year...First team All-American in 3,000m indoors…placed eighth in the 3,000m at the NCAA Indoor Championships…ranked fifth nationally in the 3,000m during the indoor season…tallied two sub-4:00 mile marks during the 2021 indoor season…won the mile and placed third in the 800m at the SoCon Indoor Championships…led Furman to its eighth-straight SoCon Cross Country Championship…placed third to earn first-team All-SoCon honors at the league XC meet…competed at the NCAA XC Championships…qualified for the NCAA East Preliminaries in the 3,000m Steeplechase, where he placed 27th…recorded a career-best time of 8:44.63 to qualify in the event…won the 3,000m Steeplechase at the SoCon Outdoor Championships…All-SoCon selection in cross country, indoor, and outdoor track...named to the SoCon Academic Honor Roll and the SoCon Academic All-Conference Team...honored as a member of the USTFCCCA All-Academic Team.
Sophomore Year (2019-20): Won the mile title at the SoCon Indoor Track Championships with a time of 4:07.81...also ran the 1200m leg on the winning distance medley relay at the league championship meet...earned first team All-Southern Conference honors after placing fourth (25:30.9) at the 2019 SoCon Cross Country Championships...helped the Paladins advance to the national championship meet with a 46th-place finish (31:08.9) at the NCAA Southeast Region Cross Country Championships...placed 119th at the NCAA Championships, helping the Paladins to a 14th-place finish...opened the indoor season with a collegiate mile best of 4:05.81 to place 11th at the Vanderbilt Invitational...finished ninth in the mile (4:06.09) in a professional field at the Millrose Games...secured an 8K career-best time of 24:55.0 at the Bill Dellinger Invitational...opened the season with a seventh place finish (15:25.7) at the Charlotte Cross Country Opener.
Freshman Year (2018-19): Named the Southern Conference Cross Country Freshman of the Year…a member of the All-SoCon first team after finishing sixth with a time of 25:36.0 at the league cross country championships…earned All-SoCon citations in the mile and DMR during the indoor season…chosen to the SoCon All-Freshman team for cross country and for the mile during indoor season…finished second with a time of 25:46.3 at the Eye Opener cross country meet…recorded a personal-best 8K time of 25:16.3 at the Wisconsin PreNationals cross country meet…notched a personal-best 10K time of 31:29.4 at the NCAA Southeast Region Cross Country Championships…posted a personal-best time of 4:09.70 to take fifth in the mile at the Camel City Indoor Invitational…recorded a personal-best time of 8;15.05 in the 3,000m at the Iowa State Indoor Classic…a member of the Paladin DMR team that took second place with a time of 10:07.11 in the DMR at the SoCon Indoor Championships…also placed third in the mile at the league indoor meet…notched a personal-best time of 9:01.81 in the 3,000m Steeplechase at the Cardinal Classic, finishing eighth…named to the Southern Conference Academic Honor Roll.
High School:
Mile - 4:04.24 - Fastest high school mile time in the nation in 2018
800m - 1:53
3,200m - 8:56
5K - 15:19
3A Cross Country State Champion
4A Indoor Track 1,600m and 1,000m State Champion
Led the nation with a time of 4:04.24 in the mile as a senior...named the MVP of the N.C. state meet after winning state titles in the 1,600m and 1,000m...holds the N.C. state record in the indoor mile (4:11) and the 1,000m indoors (2:27)...won consecutive 4A state titles in the 1,600m indoors his junior and senior seasons...won the 3A state cross country championship his senior year after finishing as runner up his as a junior...set the state junior class record of 8:56 for the 3,200m...helped his cross country team to a 17th-place national ranking as a sophomore.
