Of 50 two-man teams entered in the Army’s grueling annual Best Ranger competition at Fort Benning, Ga., only 26 made it into the third and final day of the event.

Participants ran through 60 hours of back-to-back and around-the-clock physical and mental challenges that cover up to 75 miles. The event has been likened to the Ironman and Eco-Challenge competitions.

When it was over Sunday, two Schofield Barracks soldiers, 2nd Lt. Michael Rose and 2nd Lt. John Bergman, were on top.

It was the first time in 19 years that the 25th Infantry Division picked up the prestigious win.

Rose, 23, is from Roswell, Ga., and Bergman, 24, is from Lawrence, Kan., the Columbus (Georgia) Ledger Enquirer reported.

After Day One, Rose and Bergman were in 13th place.

"We did not change our strategy," the Ledger Enquirer reported Rose as saying after the win. "We just continued to do our best."

Added Bergman, "We were just trying to finish."

The Schofield team was able to push ahead of the frontrunners, the National Guard team of Capt. Robert Killian and 1st. Lt. Nicholas Plocar, who finished second.

Sgt. 1st Class Raymond Santiago, who was part of the 2013 winning team with the Ranger Training Brigade at Fort Benning, was a coach for Rose and Bergman.

"They began training in January, working practically every day," Santiago told the Ledger Enquirer.

Schofield Barracks will hold a recognition ceremony for Rose and Bergman and other Best Ranger competitors at 2 p.m. Wednesday on Weyand Field.

Staff Sgt. Eric White and Capt. Michael Trisler were the last Schofield Barracks soldiers to win the event, in 1995.

This year’s competition included "buddy runs," obstacle courses, pond swims, a combat water survival assessment, shooting while under stress, land navigation, a foot march and night orienteering (finding the way in the dark), the Army said.

Eighteen teams were eliminated for medical reasons this year, and six didn’t make the cut following the Friday night foot march.

In 1981, the Army’s Ranger Department was tasked with designing a Ranger Olympics that would place extreme demands on each team’s physical, mental, technical and tactical skills, and in 1982 teams from each of the three Ranger Department Divisions competed against each other in the first Best Ranger competition.

The competition has since been expanded and all competitors are now graduates of the Army Ranger School at Fort Benning, the Army said.