Harmeyer hits "super-champ" status, wins 10th on Jeopardy!

Adriana Harmeyer is a “super-champ.”

The Purdue professor and archivist won her 10th night on Jeopardy! Tuesday to claim the title, wagering enough in final Jeopardy! to clear her competition.

The final question, which everyone got right, required a good view of the United States map in one’s mind’s eye: “Of the 10 U.S. States with two-word names, this one stretches the farthest south.”

Every contestant pictured it sharply enough in the time allotted by that famous final Jeopardy! tune, and “New Mexico,” flashed across the screen thrice as the correct answer. That meant it all came down to the size of the wagers.

Second-place Scott McCann wagered $8,001. Though he could have climbed to $20,400 if he put everything he had on the line, it might have been better that he didn’t – given Harmeyer’s stake of $6,600, he would have come within just $600 of unseating her.

Perhaps the lost sleep over what could have been wouldn’t have been worth it.

The professor was trailing McCann after the first round, $3,400 to $5,000, as he ended round one by picking up $800 in the “From the air” category, and equalled that payday by knocking off two $400 questions to end the opening period.

Harmeyer dominated double Jeopardy!, though, with her knowledge of historical figures. She took the lead on two correct answers from the “Historical descendants” category before mowing down “Authors before authoring.”

She ripped off quick answers of Hemingway and Harper Lee before going back to the same well, confidently taking an uncommonly large swing on a daily double.

With a $4,000 lead, she bet $3,000 of it on her grasp of the authors that had been coming to her mind so quickly in the questions before. The question:

“During World War II, he flew 60 combat missions as a U.S. Air Force bombardier...” And then a clue:

“Isn’t that crazy? Or maybe not.”

She stared at the question with blankness in her eyes, slowly beginning her answer as if a name would just jump right onto the end of it.

“Who is ...” she trailed off, and the timer beeped.

It was Joseph Heller, host Ken Jennings informed her, the author of “Catch-22.”

She nodded and her hair shook like the fringe on a bumped lampshade, muttering, “of course,” as the camera pulled off of her.

Harmeyer padded her lead with a $2,000 answer of Gertrude Stein as she moved to finish off “authors.” The run stretched to $3,600 as she held off her fellow contestants with quick answers, and she amassed a near-$6,000 lead before McCann, a math teacher, chipped into it before final Jeopardy!

Harmeyer will continue to defend her title Wednesday at 7:30 p.m. on CBS.