According to the article, times may tighten a bit, and the field may be increased another 3,000.
I think they can tighten the standards now and still fill the race. With the high demand to get in the race now is the time to do it.
They need to create tougher standard to guarantee quality runners all get in. A 2:45 for open men, age and gender graded. This would be for the first registration, then provisional standards similar to the current one for others to sign up after a reasonable period of time is provided to those making the true qualifying standards. That way it guarantees and opportunity for the best runners to get registered and also provides the means to fill the field. I suspect if done in this fashion, the first wave would end at about 3:15 and everyone else would be in the second wave.