The UCSD triathlon team had two big competitions last weekend, and both showed what Tritons are made of.

At the Ironman California, Armen “”The Animal”” Vartanian and Esther Merki strutted their stuff. The Ironman California is a grueling race, a true triathlon. The course consists of a 2.4-mile swim, a 112-mile bike ride, and, if that was not enough, a marathon, 26.2 miles on foot.

Vartanian finished the race in 10:06:00, and Merki completed it in 11:19:36.

Vartanian’s time qualified him for the Hawaii Ironman in Kona, later this year.

Also last weekend, the UCSD triathlon team cruised up to Newport Beach for the Kring & Brown Newport Beach Triathlon.

The event was much smaller in caliber, only half a mile to swim, a 13-mile bike ride and a three-mile run.

UCSD tore up the competition, finishing first out of six teams in a time of 4:44:01.

Brendan O’Brien led the way for UCSD, finishing 10th overall out of 730 competitors with a time of 1:02:56.