David Lindquist | Indianapolis Star

USA TODAY

After storming from behind to win Monday's semifinals round, Indiana University senior Tyler Combs has a shot at winning $100,000 in the "Jeopardy!" College Championship.

Combs, who grew up in Greenfield and attended Greenfield-Central High School, will be one of three finalists competing in episodes that air Thursday and Friday.

The tournament took place in February, before the coronavirus outbreak became a pandemic. "Jeopardy!" airs at 7:30 p.m. on WTHR-13.

Carol Kaelson photo

In his semifinals episode, Combs ranked third out of three contestants after the opening "Jeopardy!" segment and he ranked second after "Double Jeopardy!"

The political science major expressed relief in an interview posted at the "Jeopardy!" YouTube profile.

"Did not think I was going to pull through in that game at all, but we made it work," he said.

Combs tallied $32,800 on Monday's episode, edging University of Florida sophomore Kayla Kalhor ($25,995) and Northwestern University freshman Beni Keown ($8,399).

Keown led the game going into "Final Jeopardy!" but he failed to respond "What is reincarnation?" to the clue, "This word for a concept in Eastern religions comes from Latin roots for 'made in flesh' & 'again.' "

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Combs and Kalhor provided the correct question.

Through two games, Combs has provided correct questions to 47 of 53 "Jeopardy!" clues, according to statistics compiled at website thejeopardyfan.com.

Two other finalists will be determined in "Jeopardy!" episodes airing Tuesday and Wednesday.

The collegiate competition began with 18,000 applicants, and 15 students were selected for televised episodes.

The winner crowned Friday earns an automatic bid to the show’s Tournament of Champions.