‘Jeopardy!’ win propels Philly woman to college finals

On Thursday's Jeopardy!, Central High grad Sarah Bart overcame a slow start to win and make the finals of the show's College Championship.

In the two-show finale, which starts Monday at 7 p.m. on 6ABC, Bart will take on the winner of tonight's show and Monica Thieu, the University of North Texas sophomore who won Wednesday.

The ultimate victor will get $100,000 and an automatic spot in the show's Tournament of Champions. Second place is good for $50,000, with $25,000 for third.

On Thursday's show, after a George Washington University student quickly racked up a few thousand dollars, Bart, a senior history major at Baltimore Goucher College, zoned in on when to buzz in.

"I just had to figure out my timing," the Mount Airy-raised 22-year-old said by phone this morning.

Pressing the button "rapid fire" is key, she said.

Focused and soft-spoken, she seemed almost emotionless during the show - friends said she looked "totally monotonous" - but that wasn't the case at Tir Na Nog in Center City.

A cheering section of family and other fans there included little sister, Allison, who goes to Penn, and parents Jonathan Bart and Mary Kennedy-Bart.

Sarah scored on a true daily double to boost her funny money - contestants wind up winning fixed amounts for where they finish - to $6,000, ending up with $7,000 and a $4,000 lead after the first round.

"What is Olso?" won her another $4,000 on a Daily Double, after a clue about a Kon Tiki museum and Thor Heyerdahl in a category about world capitals.

She knew about Play-Dough, prohibit and coherent, Wendy's, St. Petersburg, Death of a Salesman, Neil Simon, C.S. Lewis, 9 to 5, and chowder.

She finished the Double Jeopardy round with a hefty $25,800, well ahead of the second-place Duke guy who needed a big boost from a Daily Double to reach $14,400.

Otherwise, she would have clinched even before Final Jeopardy.

That last category: Characters in Poetry.

Clue: "The name of this title heroine of this 1847 poem is from the Greek for good news."

The guys got it wrong, so host Alex Trebek seemed impressed by her correct answer, "What is Evangeline?" as her score rose to $29,300.

"That's exciting," he said.

Too bad that wasn't hers to keep.

The competition looks fierce, but the contestants became such good friends, Bart said, they even have their own private Facebook page titled "Trebekstacy."

Bart, who's thinking about going to grad school for business to pursue a career in sports management, says she plans to buy a car and do some traveling with her winnings.

"I want to climb Mount Kilamanjaro in the next few years," she said. "That's like a real goal."

For more, go to www.jeopardy.com. See also "10 Awkward Questions With ... Jeopardy!' Contestant Sarah Bart" (http://bit.ly/xWCXn3.)