Running Has Become a Family Tradition : Track: South Torrance’s Simone and Marcus Ferrara are following the footsteps of their father, a former runner who helps them train.

The South Torrance High track and field team has taken a family approach to reach the Southern Section finals this season.

The Ferrara family, that is.

Marcus Ferrara is defending champion in the 800-meter run in Division III, and his sister, Simone, will be among the favorites in the 800 at the Southern Section divisional finals Saturday at Cerritos College.

Marcus, a 17-year-old senior, had the fastest qualifying time of 1 minute 56.33 seconds in his specialty at the Division III preliminaries last week, and Simone, a 15-year-old sophomore, had the third-best time of 2:18.67--less than one second behind front-runner Shalynn Carr of La Verne Bonita.

The 5-foot-4, 125-pound Marcus has competed in track since his sophomore year. The 5-2, 105-pound Simone began competing last year. In fact, she has competed in the 800 only five times.

But Coach Dick Harris said there is more to the Ferraras than meets the eye.

“He’s a bulldog and so is she,” Harris said. “They’re just fierce competitors and they don’t like to lose.”

That has been particularly evident in Simone’s performances. She said her demeanor on the track has helped her get past the jitters of competing in the 800.

“I went into a race at Cerritos this season and everyone else’s time was better than mine,” she said. “But I just went out hard thinking I could stay with them and ran the best race I could and I ended up winning.”

She carried the same mind-set into the Division III prelims last week.

“I was a little scared going in competing against those other runners, but I just went out and ran my hardest. I just thought to myself that I came so far and worked so hard to get there. I just didn’t want to let anyone beat me. It just came from my gut.”

Marcus tries to maintain a similar approach.

“I’m sure there’s always going to be someone that’s going to be better than me in some race, but I always expect to win,” he said.

The runners say they are inspired to excel by their father, Mario, was ran track in high school.

“His expectations rub off on us,” Marcus said. “I think my sister’s got a lot of heart when she runs. She wants to win every time she goes out there and that comes from our dad. He wants us to win and do our best. He’s not unyielding about it, he just wants us to always give our best.”

Marcus said his father offers more than inspiration.

“My dad sets up our training schedule now, which has worked out pretty well,” he said. “I’ve had to go a lot by trial and error, but hopefully Simone will benefit from it even more.”

To assist in training, the Ferraras have turned to a book by New Zealander Arthur Lydiard titled “Running With Lydiard.” Lydiard, a former marathon runner, coached distance runners such as Peter Snell and Murray Halberg, who won gold medals at the 1960 Rome Olympics.

Marcus said they got the book from their grandmother, who lives in New Zealand.

“We’ve really used the book quite a lot to help us train,” he said. “If I follow the routines in the book to the letter, I’m usually sore, and I like that feeling because I know I’ve worked hard enough.”

Marcus and his mother, Linda, were born in New Zealand. Simone also lived in New Zealand, although she was born in Australia.

Marcus said he was 6 and Simone 4 when the family moved to the United States. Their main athletic interest was soccer, and both were All-Pioneer League selections the past two seasons. Simone also plays tennis for the Spartans.

Marcus plans to compete in track and cross-country at the U.S. Military Academy in West Point, N.Y.

“From what I’ve heard from people, they have a pretty good track program there and I think I’m going to improve a lot when I go there,” he said. “I have a lot left in me, and once I focus on one sport I think I’ll be a lot better overall.”

The expectations are even greater for Simone, who primarily ran the 400 last season.

“Last year I ran the short sprints, but it wasn’t my best distance,” she said. “So my dad thought that since Marcus was running the 800, maybe I should try it this year. So I did and I won my first race and I’ve been running it ever since.”

Harris expects Simone to compete in the mile and cross-country in 1994.

“Everything she’s done so far has been with little or no training,” he said.

Marcus has added inspiration to do well in Saturday’s meet because he did not qualify for the Masters Meet.

Simone appears to have a good chance to advance to the Masters.

“Right now it’s just a question of who wants it the most, and I know I want it,” she said.