The top qualifiers go straight to the finals.
but yes, your thought crossed my mind. The ND press release was not written well then.
"For combined events (Heptathlon and Decathlon), the top 24 declared student-athletes in each event based on their position on the national descending-order list will be accepted directly into the Championships."
The date for this direct acceptance was to be May 18, according to the same page. The time I'm willing to look for those top 24 in each event has elapsed without success
Would imagine this qualification method is in place bc competing in combined events at a conference meet, regional meet and national meet in a little more than one month would be way too much?
On a note below, I agree Mr. Heisler is a very good writer. I also believe he would not have been responsible for writing a track release/post since the 1980s. From afar, do not think writing well is as high on the list of importance for sports information/media relations as it once might have been; it might be more about "digital" (video) for them as well
EDIT:
A deeper (and more successful than the combined events qualifiers effort) dive into athletics communications/Fighting Irish Media indicates the full-time asst athletics communications director who was track and field contact departed this month to become a communications coordinator at USA Fencing ... meaning a replacement who hasn't worked the full season is handling the posted info and, as much as things have changed, the pay for those roles must still stink
Championship.
Not so easy to find, buried in the backwaters of the internet
...a track meet.
perhaps this is related to the departure of John Heisler who was a good writer.