Rangel, who qualified for national by placing third out of 135 competitors at his sectional tournament back in March, entered Tuesday as the #7 seed in the 16-person bracket tournament. The freshman defied the odds and knocked off the #10, #2, and #3 seeds in the Best-3-of-5 format before falling 3-1 to #12-seeded Chris Bardol, a junior from Robert Morris (Ill.), in the championship match.

The freshman entered his national tournament by averaging 195.5 pins over 12 games (2,346 pins) in Monday's qualifying round. That count was good enough to place him seventh overall and earn him a first-round bye.

Rangel began his day against #10 John Szczerbinksi of Wichita State (Kan.) in the second round and dispatched him 3-1 (161-201, 207-184, 212-188, 256-213) to reach the quarterfinals.

Rangel then blew through the quarters with a 3-0 win over #2 Kyle Keegan of RIT (N.Y.) (223-200, 185-179, 170-167) before meeting up with another player from a New York institution--Jacob Kent of Eric CC (N.Y.).

As would be expected, the freshman had his toughest test to date in the semifinals, dropping the first two games to Kent before rallying for three consecutive victories to advance to the finals, a monstrous feat for Rangel and for the first-year Statesmen bowling program. Rangel's 3-2 win over Keegan came on scores of 151-158, 143-171, 220-179, 200-190, 211-159.

Unfortunately, his luck came to a screeching halt at the hands of Bardol, a member of the 2010 Junior Team USA squad. Bardol, who needed to win five times to secure the title, played in a total of 19 games, beginning at 7:30 a.m. and ending just before 6 p.m.

The junior took the opener 223-188 and then Game Two 204-168, before Rangel rebounded with a 202-197 win to force a fourth game. Rangel trailed late and needed to throw a strike at the start of the tenth frame to keep his hopes alive, but could not accomplish the task, eventually falling 194-184.

For the bracket tournament, Rangel averaged 192.6 pins in 16 games (3,081 pins).

For more information on the USBC Intercollegiate Singles Championships, click here