MOUNT PLEASANT - Central Michigan senior 149-pounder Tony D'Alie and sophomore heavyweight Jarod Trice have earned at-large bids to the 2010 NCAA Championships.

Their additions to the tournament make the 2010 Chippewas the first team in Mid-American Conference history to qualify all 10 individuals to the NCAA Championships, slated for March 18-20 in Omaha, Neb. CMU had previously qualified nine individuals to the NCAA Championships in 2005 and 2008 and eight individuals in 1999, 2007 and 2009.

Central Michigan, Iowa, Iowa State and Oklahoma will be the only four teams in the 2010 tournament with individuals qualified in each weight class. Five Chippewas earned top-12 seeds in their respective weight class.

As a conference, the MAC qualified 27 individuals for the NCAA Championships, the sixth most of the 11 qualifying tournaments. The MAC's six at-large selections ranked fourth among the 11 qualifying tournaments.

CMU won the MAC's regular season and tournament championships in 2010. CMU has won 11 of the past 12 MAC titles and 12 of the past 13 conference tournament crowns, including nine straight.


Central Michigan's NCAA Championships First Round Matchups
125 Pounds: No. 8 Matt Steintrager vs. James Knox (Maryland)
133 Pounds: No. 11 Scotti Sentes vs. Matthew Fisk (Lehigh)
141 Pounds: Conor Beebe vs. No. 11 Christopher Diaz (Virginia Tech)
149 Pounds: Tony D'Alie vs. No. 10 Barrett Abel (UC Davis)
157 Pounds: No. 12 Steve Brown vs. Turtogtokh Luvsandorj (The Citadel)
165 Pounds: Tyler Grayson vs. No. 8 Shane Onufer (Wyoming)
174 Pounds: No. 7 Ben Bennett vs. Robert Hamlin (Lehigh)
184 Pounds: Mike Miller vs. No. 10 Mike Pucillo (Ohio State)
197 Pounds: Eric Simaz vs. Joe Kennedy (Lehigh)
285 Pounds: No. 7 Jarod Trice vs. Brandon Williamson (West Virginia)