Cali Bryant’s High Aspirations

NASHVILLE, Tenn. — Cali Bryant had yet to take her first Vanderbilt final exam when she made her collegiate track and field debut shortly before winter break. And truth be told, the freshman was more nervous about what awaited her in calculus than high jump. The Commodore Challenge was a chance to escape practice drudgery and “dial into the competitive juices,” as director of cross country and track and field Althea Thomas put it, ahead of the bulk of the indoor schedule. And for Bryant, the high jump is material she knows well.

She passed with flying colors.

Bryant cleared the bar at 1.74 meters to take first place in her debut. Not merely enough to win the day, it was the sixth-best indoor mark in program history and the second-best of any Commodore high jumper in the last 12 years.

To put the measurement another way, assuming the campus population mirrors the country as a whole, she jumped over the average Vanderbilt student.

Not a bad way to introduce yourself. She aced the calculus exam, too.

The Bryant name was already well known in SEC track and field by the time Cali committed to Vanderbilt. Claire Bryant, Cali’s sister, was an eight-time first-team All-American in long jump at Florida, sweeping indoor and outdoor honors each season during a collegiate career that closed in 2024. But the family name went global this past spring, when Claire won gold in the World Athletics Indoor Championships in Nanjing, China.

In a track and field family, having a world champion for a sister sets the bar high. Cali wouldn’t want it anywhere else. The higher the bar, after all, the more satisfying the sensation of soaring above it.

Maybe she was always meant for the high jump. She matched a discipline that demands explosive athleticism, methodical tinkering and almost artistic agility in equal measures. But also because standing on the apron before a jump, she isn’t competing against anyone else. Not in that moment. It’s just her and the bar, success or failure in her hands. She is a proud sister, devoted teammate, friend, daughter and countless other roles. But in that moment, maybe more than any other, she’s just herself.

“When I compete, it’s not like in the 100 where everybody is running with you at the same time,” Bryant explained. “When I go, it’s just me. I can’t tell what anyone else is going to do after me. I can’t see somebody in the lane next to me and push harder to win, like a sprinter. It’s just me. So when I go, it’s about what I need to do to clear this.”

Meant for the High Jump

Cali can thank Claire for her entry into track and field. While the six Bryant siblings are an athletic bunch, that found its greatest expression through golf for the three oldest kids. It wasn’t until Claire came along, bored to distraction by golf’s more casual pace, that track and field entered the picture. And if their mother was going to be shuttling one daughter to tracks around the Houston area, signing up Cali and Cate (the youngest sister, now an accomplished high school heptathlete) made the daily schedule more manageable.

"One thing that Cali’s really good at is she really doesn’t care what other people think. Cali asserted herself a lot earlier than I did. That quality is really valuable in life."

Claire Bryant, Cali's sister and world champion long jumper

At that point, still early in elementary school, Cali tried just about every event. But the high jump always caught her eye, less because of any dreams of winning medals than because jumping onto a big soft mat where you could do flips and play around looked quite fun. She never quite got the hang of triple jump. She took easily to long jump — she still competes in that event as a secondary focus, just as Claire competed in high jump as a secondary focus at Florida. But as soon as she was as tall as the high jump mat (it’s hard to jump over the bar before you can clear the mat), she had found her medium.

At Houston’s Memorial High School, she was a three-time Nike All-American in high jump and the Texas state runner-up as a senior. She earned a top-five finish in the 2024 USATF U20 Championships and second-place finish in that year’s USATF Junior Olympics.

While the significant age difference meant Cali and Claire were never in direct competition and rarely even in the same meets, there was always at least a sense of being “Claire’s sister” floating in the ether. Some of that was good. Practicing alongside Claire and Cate was fun, and she loves being part of what she dubs “Team Bryant” — all of them home for the holidays over the recent break, they trained together. Occasionally, the name was tedious, few other high schoolers measured against an NCAA All-American. Flipping the script, mastering the event that Claire only dabbled in, granted her a realm of her own.

“I do feel like whenever we were younger people would pit us against each other,” Claire said. “It was something we had to actively push against to be able to root for each other instead of being in competition. I think Cali finding her home in high jump helped as well. She was jumping great — I really enjoyed high jump, but it was definitely my secondary event. It just didn’t come as naturally as long jump. It was so fun to cheer her on in high school and even when she was younger.”

Cali played team sports, too, when she was young. And the team dynamic in track and field, at its greatest in college, appeals to her. But the individualism inherent in high jump is its greatest appeal. Each jump is a puzzle, so many movements dependent on each other. You can’t just sprint at the bar and launch yourself into the air. From the first step of the graceful, bounding run-up to landing on the mat, it is like a symphony, where even one discordant note from the oboe ruins the whole thing.

In the high jump, you have to know yourself.

“It can be a very frustrating event,” Bryant said. “A lot of times I understand exactly what I’m supposed to be doing — like I need to be pushing my hips at exactly this time and flipping my feet over. But you can understand so much about the high jump and your body still doesn’t do it correctly because each step is so specific. It took me a long time to figure out my body, and every single thing takes so much body control. Just figuring out a certain move sometimes takes a year, which is so frustrating. And even if you figure it out, you can still mess it up.”

Writing Her Own Story

When it came time to choose a university, experience with the recruiting process and established contacts across the country were additional benefits of the family ties. Cali and her family already knew the coaches who had watched Claire and now expressed interest in the next Bryant — including Thomas, who had recruited eventual world champion Matthew Boling, Claire’s club teammate, at Georgia and remained friendly with the Bryants after taking the reins in Nashville. But the future ultimately mattered more than history. Familiarity helped get a foot in the recruiting door, but Vanderbilt won out because it was unlike so much else that she encountered. A charter member of the SEC that is equally proud of being one of one, it felt like a rather perfect fit for someone going her own way.

“It really just hit every single box for me when some schools weren’t hitting all of those,” Bryant said. “I wouldn’t have had a problem not being in the SEC, but I liked that Vanderbilt was. It’s a great education, a cool location and I really liked the team. That was a big deal. I love the Vanderbilt team. The girls are so sweet. And Coach A.T. is a great head coach. She knows what she’s doing.”

That independent streak separates learning from those who came before you from merely following in their footsteps. Bryant has always been good at forging her own path.

After winning the world championship last year, Claire talked about the importance of being herself. As successful as she had always been, it took years of hard-learned lessons to stop trying to do what other elite long jumpers did — and find instead what worked for her.

Right: Claire Bryant competes during ATHLOS NYC25 (Photo by Ishika Samant/Getty Images for Athlos)

Cali has always been good at going her own way. She was never hesitant to speak up, no matter the issue. If the bar looked slightly askew, as it often did at small meets where staff and equipment are in short supply, she said something. She waited until it was fixed.

Many wouldn’t at that age, Claire included, unwilling to stand out.

“I feel like it’s easy when you see people around you who are successful to think you need to do exactly what they do,” Claire said. “Sometimes that may be the case, but a lot times that person is being 100 percent them and doing 100 percent of what they need to do to be great. So if you’re 100 percent you, it’s better than being 50 percent of your teammate or whoever you look up to. And one thing that Cali’s really good at is she really doesn’t care what other people think.

“Cali asserted herself a lot earlier than I did. That quality is really valuable in life, even outside of track.”

Scroll through Bryant’s photo roll from her first semester of college and you’ll find plenty of shots where she’s dressed to the nines for football Saturdays at FirstBank Stadium or seeking moments of levity with teammates enduring the preseason grind. There will also be sushi photos, as only dinner at Sushi 88 can provide.

Bryant is a September baby, which presents a challenge when you’re away from home and all that is familiar for the first time. At least, it would be a challenge for some. For Bryant, it was an opportunity. When she met new people on campus, beyond exchanging contact info or hometowns, she invited them to her birthday dinner. Looking back, she barely knew the names of some of the people in the photos at the time. By the end of the semester, most of them felt like old friends.

Life is more fun when you go through it comfortable with who you are.

And few things strip away pretense like that simple fiberglass rod suspended between two aluminum posts. It doesn’t play favorites. It stays or it falls. It’s entirely up to you. And only you.

So, yes, the high jump is Bryant’s story. One she was born to write.

“Some people may disagree with this, but I feel that it’s pretty clear in track whether or not something is meant for you,” Bryant said. “There are so many different events and something is meant for you. You can tell if someone is better at sprinting or long distance very quickly. And it’s the same thing with jumps. I knew I had found what was meant for me.”