CULVER CITY, CA -– The 29th edition of the Jeopardy! Teen Tournament ended in a photo finish when Jeff Xie, a 17-year-old rising senior at John P. Stevens High School in Edison, NJ, won the $75,000 grand prize in a rare tiebreaker over Alan Koolik, a 17-year-old junior at Pine Crest School in Boca Raton, FL.

The two-day final ended in a tie with Jeff and Alan earning $54,200. A tiebreaker clue was presented; the first contestant to ring in and respond correctly would become the winner.

“I knew that I had to get the Final Jeopardy! clue right, and when Alan also gave the correct answer, my jaw dropped because I knew we were tied,” said Jeff Xie. “When the tiebreaker category – The Civil War – was announced, I was excited because history is a strength of mine. When I saw “Shiloh,” I knew the answer, and the rest, quite fittingly, was history.”

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Jeff says he plans to use his grand prize winnings “in three ways: taxes, travel, and college,” though time will tell whether the money will help him achieve his ultimate goal: “My dream is to become a world-renowned scientist, with a concentration in astronomy, who is invited to compete on ‘Dancing with the Stars,’” he says.

Alan Koolik pocketed $54,200 in his second-place finish, while Cooper Lair, a 15-year-old sophomore at Little Rock Christian Academy, came in third and took home $31,200.

Read other articles on Jeff Xie.

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Jeff Xie of Edison to Compete on Jeopardy! Teen Tournament

For more information about the tournament, visit Jeopardy! Teen Tournament.

JEOPARDY!, America’s Favorite Quiz Show® and its host, Alex Trebek, are celebrating 30 years of “answers and questions.” The top-rated quiz show in syndication, JEOPARDY! has become a pop culture phenomenon and has received many awards and honors. It holds the Guinness World Records® title for the most Emmy® Awards won by a TV game show (31 Emmys), including the 2014 Emmy® for Outstanding Game Show. In 2014, JEOPARDY! won the inaugural Writers Guild of America award for Outstanding Writing for Quiz and Audience Participation; it is also the recipient of a 2011 Peabody Award. JEOPARDY! is produced by Sony Pictures Television, a Sony Pictures Entertainment Company; it is distributed domestically by CBS Television Distribution and internationally by CBS Television International, both units of CBS Corp. For more information, visit Jeopardy.com.