The 6-foot, 145-pound junior won the Division I state meet this past season with a time of 15:02.8, breaking the tape 5.3 seconds ahead of his next-closest competitor and leading the Thunderhawks to a 15th-place finish as a team. Horter finished fourth at the Nike Cross Nationals Midwest Regional championships in a school-record time of 14:59.90 and placed 30th at the NXN Final. He is a three-time First Team All-State selection and the two-time Cincinnati Enquirer Cross Country Runner of the Year.
Horter has maintained a weighted 4.15 GPA in the classroom. He will begin his senior year of high school this fall.
A member of the Student Athletic Leadership Team at Lakota East, Horter has volunteered locally on behalf of multiple community service initiatives through his church youth group. He also served as part of mission trips to Eastern Kentucky and inner-city Cincinnati. "Dustin was by far the most dominant runner in the state all year," said David Fultz, head coach of Middletown High. "He attacks every race and runs hard no matter if it's a small meet or the national meet."