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Bridgewater's Terry O'Shea holds her Jeopardy! College Championship Trophy high.

(Jeopardy Productions, Inc.)

BRIDGEWATER — Answer: She swept a national TV trivia show's college championship and made it look easy winning the $100,000 grand prize.

And the question is, Who is Terry O'Shea?

After clearing the quarterfinals and then the semifinals of the Jeopardy! College Championship over the last week, Bridgewater-Raritan High School graduate and Princeton University sophomore has taken the top prize of $100,000, a trophy, and a berth in the next Tournament of Champions on the Alex Trebek-hosted television program.

"I feel dizzily happy, as if my blood has been replaced by soda pop," O’Shea said after her win. "It felt even better because I wasn’t expecting it at all. Even going into the finals, I honestly believed I was going to get second place and it’s still difficult for me to comprehend that I actually won."

Jeopardy! College Championship winner Terry O'Shea, left, with host Alex Trebek.

O'Shea, an English major with a minor in French, beat out 14 other students representing colleges and universities nationwide. She credits her Princeton education for giving her the ability to think fast on her feet, and to hone her skill in making educated guesses.

"I'm not on a sports or other competitive team, so it was nice to finally get the chance to represent Princeton," O'Shea said. "Of course, that means I also felt a lot of pressure to do wll, since this was my one chance to make the university proud."

She said that her win is even more exciting because it's the first time a Princeton student has won the competition.

"So even if I never earn enough money to donate a building, I'll always have this," O'Shea said.

Bridgewater-Raritan High School math teacher Beth Perna had the opportunity to work with O'Shea on the school's invitational quiz event called BRITE, the Bridgewater-Raritan Invitational Tournament of Excellence, and she said she's been watching O'Shea with great excitement. BEGIN RELATED LINKS

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"She was a valuable member of the BRHS Academic Team throughout her high school years," Perna said. "In 2012, she helped the team to a semi-finals finish in the BRITE Tournament, and was honored with an Academic Team Award for this accomplishment."

O'Shea said that one of the highlights of taking part in the tournament was the chance to meet her fellow competitors, including Texas A&M junior Tucker Pope, who placed second for the $50,000 prize, and Kevin Shen, a junior at the University of California at Berkeley, who placed third for the $25,000 prize.

"It's like the quote from 'Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone' — 'There are some things you can't share without ending up liking each other, and knocking out a 12-foot mountain troll is one of them,'" O'Shea said. "Jeopardy! is our 12-foot mountain troll."