NIcole Bush was a Big 10 Conference Champion and an All American distance athlete while at Michigan State. She competed at multiple NCAA Div 1 national championships in cross country and track placing 5th at the NCAA Div 1 Cross Country Championships and 2nd in the Steeplechase her senior year.

Nicole was a US Olympic Trials qualifier multiple times (2008, 2012, 2016). In 2013 Bush claimed the U.S. Steeplechase title and that same year she represented the U.S. at the Track & Field World Championships in Moscow.

The following year, 2014, Nicole set her personal best of 9:24.59 in Belgium.

On Sept. 27, 2023 Nicole was inducted into the Michigan State University Hall of Fame