CIAA golf championship draws top teams to Mill Creek in Mebane

Mill Creek Golf Course in Mebane spent two days hosting one of the CIAA’s biggest spring events, with eight men’s golf programs teeing off at 8 a.m. at 1700 St Andrews Drive and carrying conference traffic into Alamance County.

The 2026 CIAA Men’s Golf Championship brought Bluefield State, Fayetteville State, Winston-Salem State, Virginia State, Livingstone, Virginia Union, Johnson C. Smith and Bowie State to Mebane for a 54-hole tournament hosted by Winston-Salem State. Before play began, Bluefield State arrived as the top seed after two conference round-ups with a combined score of 1,791, followed by Fayetteville State at 1,828 and Winston-Salem State at 1,833.

That made the first round especially important for the host site’s visibility. The tournament put a mix of regional programs, coaches and athletes into Mebane at the same time, a rare concentration of visitors for a local golf facility. Virginia Union also entered with another point of pride, posting the conference’s highest team GPA at 3.71, while Bluefield State’s Freddie Timmis had already been recognized as both CIAA Player of the Year and Rookie of the Year. Bluefield State coach Sam Berry was named Coach of the Year.

On the course, Fayetteville State quickly emerged as the team to catch. After two rounds, the Broncos led at 6-over, with Winston-Salem State second at 10-over and Virginia State third at 25-over. Virginia State’s Samuel Kozisek paced the individual race after 36 holes at 2-under 142, and Fayetteville State’s Landon Cabingas posted one of the tournament’s best single rounds with a 3-under 69.

By the end of the championship, Fayetteville State had held off Winston-Salem State to win the team title at 8-over, while the Rams finished second at 12-over. Winston-Salem State’s Cameron Lutterloh surged in the final round, shooting 67 and finishing at 4-under 212 to claim individual medalist honors.

For Mebane, the event underscored how a venue like Mill Creek can serve as more than a local golf course. When a CIAA championship brings teams from Fayetteville, Winston-Salem, Bluefield, Petersburg and Charlotte into town, the payoff stretches beyond the scoreboard and into hotel rooms, restaurant tables and the kind of regional attention that small cities often spend years trying to build.

Fayetteville State’s victory was its 28th CIAA golf championship, a marker of the program’s staying power and another sign that Mill Creek has become a credible stage for championship play in Alamance County.