UC Berkeley sophomore Niki Peters won second place – and $50,000 – in the final round of Jeopardy! College Championship, which aired today on ABC.

“It was, and is, absolutely insane that I won $50,000,” despite “knowledge gaps” and getting sick during the tournament, Peters said of her finish.

University of Southern California junior Sam Deutsh took first place, which came with a $100,000 grand prize. University of Pittsburgh senior Sarah Dubnik finished third.

Cal’s Peters beat out opponents from North Carolina State and Brown University in the quarterfinals last week, and Stanford and Columbia contestants during the semifinal round, which aired Monday night.

A longtime quiz-competition enthusiast, and co-president of Berkeley’s large quiz-bowl club, Peters is one of 15 students (among 15,000 contenders nationwide) chosen to compete in the Jeopardy! contest. She took a question test in October and was called in for a multi-part audition in Los Angeles last November.

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