Micah Ernst, 23, of Meadville, Penn., took the Verizon FiOS Grand Tournament, Verizon announced today. The gamer won $100,000, the largest single prize in an online tourney, in the 6,000-person tournament. The finals were played live in Hermosa Beach, Calif. over Verizon's FiOS Internet service.

"We congratulate Micah on his impressive win," said Brian Angiolet, director of Marketing for Verizon. "It was exciting to see him and the other finalists compete live against each other, using a 30 Megabit-per-second FiOS Internet connection delivered over our new, all-fiber network. It's clear that FiOS Internet is breaking the barriers to fun on the Internet and is creating new levels of interaction for everyone who uses it."

Ernst plans to use the cash to pay off his student loans, buy a big-ass TV and make a trip to New Zealand, while I would have used the $100k to pay someone to build me a mansion out of watermelon flavored Jello.

Oh well, each to his own. Hit the jump for the finalists and their pay-outs. Brian Crecente

Name/Hometown Prize

1. Micah Ernst, Meadville, PA $100,000
2. Scott Rogoff, Trumbull, CT Alienware Prize Systems & Monitor
3. Zachariah Kendall, Colville, WA Alienware Prize Systems & Monitor
4. Kenny Wells, Towson, MD ATI Radeon X1900 XT Series Video Card
5. Brian Kihneman, Austin, TX ATI Radeon X1900 XT Series Video Card
6. Dominic Anderson, Portland, OR ATI Radeon X1900 XT Series Video Card
7. Richard Oliver, Virginia Beach, VA Saitek Gamers Keyboard
8. Stefan Hock, Trumbull, CT Saitek Gamers Keyboard

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