TOWSON, Md. – Towson University rising sophomore Hayley Horvath will represent the United States of America in the 2019 Pan American U20 Athletics Championships to be held in San Jose, Costa Rica this weekend.
 
A native of Princeton, New Jersey, Horvath will compete in the pole vault on Friday, July 19 at 7:30 p.m. Eastern Daylight Time. Even though San Jose is in the Central Time Zone, it does not observe daylight saving time. She starts at 5:30 p.m. local time.
 
Horvath earned a trip to this meet by tying a school record and finishing second in the pole vault with a clearance of 4.10 meters at the USATF U20 Outdoor Championships on June 22 in Miramar, Florida.
 
Horvath is the second member of the Towson track and field program to participate in an international meet this summer. Michella Obijiaku was ninth in the shot put in the European under 23 championships in Gavle, Sweden last weekend.
 
Named CAA Women's Rookie of the Year, Horvath had a memorable 2019 outdoor season in which she won the CAA championship in the pole vault. Horvath competed at NCAA East Region Prelims. She was the first freshman in program history to qualify for NCAA East Region Prelims. Horvath is the school record holder in the pole vault (4.1 meters/13-5.25). She was named CAA Field Athlete Of The Week on April 2 and 9.
 
During the outdoor season, she won the pole vault at the Penn Relays, Morgan State Legacy Meet, Towson Invitational and Maryland Invitational. Horvath was seventh in the pole vault at the Florida Relays and cleared four meters three times. Horvath was third in the pole vault at the ECAC Championships (3.91 meters).
 
During the indoor season, she helped Towson finish third at the ECAC Championships by winning the pole vault in an indoor school record clearance of 4.00 meters. Horvath won the pole vault at the Fastrack Last Chance and Navy Winter Invitational. She was third in the pole vault at the Penn State National and eighth at the Virginia Tech Invitational.

About San Jose, Costa Rica
Situated in the broad, fertile Central Valley 3,800 feet above sea level, San Jose is the capital and largest city of Costa Rica, and the capital of the province of the same name. It is located in the center of the country, specifically in the mid-west and contained within San José Canton. San José is the seat of national government, the focal point of political and economic activity, and the major transportation hub of Costa Rica.
 
San Jose was called Villa Nueva when it was settled in 1736. San José developed slowly as a tobacco center in the Spanish colonial era. In 1823 the national capital was transferred there from nearby Cartago. In the 1840s the town became one of the important center of coffee production, which remained the chief source of Costa Rica's income throughout the 19th century. Costa Rican cuisine (comida típica) is generally not spicy. Throughout San José, the most popular food is the national dish of gallo pinto, which is a mixture of fried rice and black beans. Gallo pinto is usually served for breakfast with tortillas and natilla, a thin sour cream.