Ararat's veteran runner finished behind consistent Brighton performer Leigh Phelan and two-time Stawell Gift finalist Kevin Brittain.

Cooper was right in the mix following the qualifying stages where he won his heat strongly and finished second in his semi final.

Cooper's time of 10.64 was the fastest of the heats.

"It was a little surprising to get time up, I wasn't expecting it, but now that I look at it I did run fast at Stonnington so it's not that unusual," he said.

"What I was really happy with was that my times were consistent, so from the heat to the semi (10.65s) there wasn't much difference.

"I actually ran slower in the final (10.67s) but it sure didn't feel like that."

Cooper said his battle with eventual winner Phelan, who was starting off the same 9.50-metre mark, was enjoyable.

"I was rapt with my start, I didn't lose any ground. I was in front, then he was, we were fighting all the way down the track," he said.

"I hit the front and then he came back over me...I wanted to go again but the finish line was there.

"It was a great race, I really enjoyed it That type of competition is why you run, it was fun!"

Cooper said coming third in the Masters' 100-metre heat as the backmarker, off 2.75 metres and giving away a headstart to the rest of the field as much as 21.50 metres, was also one of the highlights for him during the weekend.

The Marcus Cooper Stable had plenty of representation in finals at the meeting, with Ruby Klemm again performing strongly in the Women's Gift.

Klemm won her heat of the 100-metre race comfortably before finishing third in the final.

"She ran really fast in the heat and then was a little slower in the final, but that has got a lot to do with the weather change during the day too, it blew up a bit from heats to finals.

"I am very happy with the way she is running."

Zoe Nicholson also won her heat of the 300-metre Women's/Veterans' handicap to progress through to the final.

"Zoe ran her guts out to win her heat, it was a fantastic race," Cooper said.

"It was on for young and old between her and Gary Blake. Gary had a huge mark on her and she caught him on the straight and it was neck-and-neck to the line."

Following the gutsy win Nicholson backed up well heading into final, however Cooper said she made a slight error on the tight track that proved costly.

"She took it out really hard, smashed it down the back straight and caught a heap of the frontmarkers. She was flying but she decided to sit in behind them," he said.

"If she had have just kept pushing she would have got around them, because at the bend it just bunched up and she actually tripped a little and had to reload, but had lost ground."

Cooper said he expects big things from the distance runner in the 800-metre handicap event at this weekend's Bendigo Gift Meeting.

Others locals competing at Geelong included Jacquie Scott, who Cooper said backed up well from the previous week with an impressive run in the 300-metre heats.

Jake Miocic enjoyed his third meeting of the season and was joined by Fraser Heard, Kieren Blizzard, Angus Burns, Edward Tassell, Dun Rilloraza and Cooper Heard.