In a news release, the “JEOPARDY!” TV quiz show in Culver City, Calif., announced Nilai Sarda, a freshman at The Westminster Schools in Buckhead, won $26,400 with a third-place finish in its Teen Tournament in an episode that aired Tuesday night.

Leonard Cooper, a senior at eStem High Public Charter School in Little Rock, Ark., won the tournament. Barrett Block, a senior at Henry Clay High School in Lexington, Ky., placed second.

“I was just amazed I was able to make it on,” said Sarda, who at 13 years old was the youngest contestant in the tournament. “I thought that because I was 13 they’d probably take someone older who had tried out before instead.”

Sarda missed the tryout for “JEOPARDY!’s” Kids Week last year and took the online qualification test for the Teen Tournament for the first time this year, his first year of eligibility. He hoped his relative youth would be an advantage over his competitors and relied on his knowledge of the show to succeed.

“I watched the show a lot and looked at the archives,” Sarda said. “I was bouncing around the board, trying to find the Daily Doubles.”

Sarda plans to pursue a career in science and is already scouting universities like MIT, Cal Tech or Stanford. His “JEOPARDY!” prize money will help him attend an out-of-state, private university.

“I’m probably going to save some of the money for college, or maybe invest it,” Sarda said.