Purdue’s ‘Jeopardy’ champ in rare air with ‘super’ 10th win
West Lafayette’s Adriana Harmeyer joins select company on ‘Jeopardy,’ as 17th in show history to earn ‘super champion’ status. She says: ‘It might still take a bit of time to really sink in.’
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PURDUE’S ‘JEOPARDY’ CHAMP JOINS SELECT COMPANY WITH ‘SUPER’ 10TH WIN
Adriana Harmeyer, a Purdue archivist who already qualified for the “Jeopardy” Tournament of Champions after winning her fifth game last week, entered some rare air on the nationally syndicated quiz show with her 10th win Tuesday.
Harmeyer became just the 17th contestant in the past 21 years to win at least 10 games on the show, according to The Jeopardy! Fan site. (Before September 2003, “Jeopardy” champions had to tap out after five wins.)
The 10-game streak made her what the show calls a “super champion.”
“It was a tough game, regardless of trying to win 10 and earn that label,” Harmeyer said Tuesday evening, after watching a win that came down to her correct response and ample bet in the Final Jeopardy category.
“I was up against really good people,” Harmeyer said. “And I wanted to keep playing. I wanted to win regardless of what number it was. … Every game is its own beast.”
Host Ken Jennings mentioned at the start of the episode that Harmeyer was on the cusp of “super champion” status. When it was over – during taping done in April – was there any pomp, special rings or anything else to mark the occasion?
“Nothing like that,” she said. “Just the glory, I think.”
Harmeyer’s two-week run on the show started May 29. In that span, her winnings total $225,700. (Her current overall winnings put her $4,101 from the top 20 in all-time list for regular, non-tournament amounts in the show’s history, according to The Jeopardy! Fan site.)
Tuesday, Harmeyer found herself in a spot she’s only been in three times – in a position to lose depending on how the Final Jeopardy question came out. She went into that final round with the lead, at $14,400 compared to her closest competitor’s $10,200.
“It was easier on my nerves to run away with it and not have that tension going into the final,” she said. “A lot can go differently very quickly in those games.”
All three contestants gave the correct response in the Final Jeopardy category U.S. Geography: “Of the 10 U.S. states with two-word names, this one stretches the farthest south.” The correct response: “What is New Mexico?”
Harmeyer bet $6,600 to get to $21,000 on the day and the win.
Since taping in April, Harmeyer has been sitting on the results, not permitted by “Jeopardy” to share about episodes until they air. All the while, she’s been running into friends and people at work who share that they’ve become avid watchers while she’s on the show.
“It's one thing to know that my name might be on some of those top lists,” Harmeyer said. “It's another to actually see it happen. So, it might still take a bit of time to really sink in. … It’s just something I really enjoyed, so I’m happy to be able to share it.”
Harmeyer will defend as champion Wednesday. “Jeopardy” airs locally at 7:30 p.m. on WLFI-TV18.
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IN LEAP DISTRICT NEWS: A couple of stories with local ties – as long as you consider anything dealing with the LEAP district in and around Lebanon a Greater Lafayette tie – arrived Tuesday, each hinting that Boone County’s search for water is just beginning:
First, Indianapolis Business Journal’s Cate Charron reported that the State Budget Committee gave permission for the Indiana Economic Development Corp. to move $88 million from other projects to buy 1,400 additional acres in the 9,000-acre Limitless Exploration Advanced Pace district along I-65, midway between Lafayette and Indianapolis. Democrats at the State Budget Commission meeting Tuesday asked why the state was willing to put more ground in play while it’s still trying to figure out how to get enough water to a site. (You might have heard a time or two on these pages about the LEAP pipeline notion tapping tens of millions of gallons from western Tippecanoe County.) But the shift was approved. Here’s the full story from Charron in the IBJ: “IEDC receives state approval for $88M in additional LEAP district funding.”
In a related story in the IBJ, reporter Daniel Bradley interviewed Mayor Matt Gentry in Lebanon, where available water is spoken for – so much so that the city has to find an additional water source before new business and residential construction can take place. Gentry, a huge proponent of the LEAP district and building a pipeline from Tippecanoe County to supply it, told Based in Lafayette in late May that the expansion of Eli Lilly’s campus at the LEAP district needed additional water but that the supply solution would not include resources from Tippecanoe County. Picking up on news first reported by the Lebanon Reporter, Bradley’s account had Gentry saying the city was fine with the water it had for now but that water was going to have to come from somewhere if Lebanon was going to deal with the growth tied to the tens of thousands of jobs anticipated at LEAP. Here’s the full report: “Lebanon needs to find new water source to support more construction, mayor says.”
PORN SITES V. ROKITA: This was the opening of a report Tuesday from Indianapolis Star’s Kayla Dwyer: “A slew of adult-content website operators and a California-based free-speech trade group are suing Indiana Attorney General Todd Rokita over Indiana's impending age-verification law, which authorizes Rokita to sue porn websites if they fail to adequately screen out children from viewing their content.” Check with someone 18 or older about whether you’re allowed to click the link for the full story: “Porn website operators sue Indiana AG Todd Rokita to block age verification law.”
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The I-65 corridor promises to be as ugly as any stretch along Southern California's freeways.