ETHS Grad Narrowly Misses 'Jeopardy!' College Championship Final

EVANSTON, IL — A Northwestern University freshman and Evanston Township High School alum advanced to semifinals of the "Jeopardy!" college championship tournament, but he narrowly missed out on a chance to win $100,000 in the final airing later this week.

Beni Keown, 18, was the captain of the ETHS scholastic bowl team last year and has began competing with the Northwestern quiz bowl team in his first year at college. Keown said he qualified for "Jeopardy!" in his first attempt last fall. The college championship episodes were recorded earlier this year and began airing last week.

In the first round of the tournament, Keown headed in to the Final Jeopardy round trailing the leader by $600. Keown wagered just $1,000, knowing that four contestants would qualify for the semifinals through wild card berths based on their score. He told Patch he had researched the cut-offs in past competitions to qualify for the wild card, and the strategy worked.

Over the course of both appearances, Keown got 47 questions correct, seven incorrect and buzzed in first about 40 percent of the time, according to the The Jeopardy Fan, a website devoted to records and statistics from the show.

In the semifinal, which aired Monday, Keown faced off against a sophomore from the University of Florida and a senior from Indiana University.

Keown led after the Jeopardy! and Double Jeopardy! rounds, heading into the final question with a $4,200 lead.

The final clue sought a word for the "concept in Eastern religions [that] comes from Latin roots for 'made in flesh' and 'again.'"

Both Keown's opponents correctly answered, "reincarnation," but Keown said "orthodox," missing out on a chance to become one of three finalists in the two-day final match, airing Thursday and Friday.

All college championship episodes were recorded in the first week of February. On March 16, the producers of Jeopardy! announced the suspension of production due to the spread of the new coronavirus.

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