Burke’s Just Up to His Neck in Water Polo : Alamo Cup: Former San Clemente star plays in and promotes the international tournament at Corona del Mar High.

Mike Burke could have stepped right off the beach, with his deep tan, casual clothes and the well-scrubbed look of a serious surfer, but today there is something amiss.

There’s a nasty gash on his left eyelid--a fresh wound, the type you usually see at ringside, not at the pier. “It happens to me all the time,” says Burke, who surfs often but spends most of his time playing for the U.S. national water polo team.

This time it was an elbow thrown by a Cuban player in practice Wednesday. Tonight it could be a punch in the face or a kick in the stomach. Burke usually guards the two-meter man--loosely, water polo’s answer to a basketball center--where the battles can be the most punishing.

“A lot of the two-meter men are great people out of the pool but when you’re in the pool they’re your worst enemy,” Burke said. “There are elbows thrown, knees to the kidney. People don’t realize what goes on under the water.

“At least one of my ribs is bruised at all times.”

Starting tonight, Burke will be mixing it up with some of the best in the world at the Alamo Cup, the annual international tournament, at Corona del Mar High School. The United States, which won the first two Alamo Cup titles, will play Mexico at 8 tonight, then Japan and Cuba Friday, before the playoffs for medals Saturday and Sunday.

Burke, a San Clemente High and Long Beach State graduate, is in the unique position of playing in and promoting the tournament.

U.S. Water Polo is based in Indianapolis and its executive director, Bruce Wigo, works in Ft. Lauderdale, Fla., so working with local sponsors on promotional material has been difficult for the organization. This year, however, Burke was hired.

Although he had no experience in the field, he took to the job quickly.

“With some people you might need to hold their hands,” said Eileen Sexton, U.S. Water Polo’s director of media relations. “But Mike just really took off and did a great job.”

Since February, Burke has worked about 25 hours a week, meeting with sponsors and putting together a poster and the tournament program. It is the perfect flexible employment, allowing him to fit the two daily practice sessions--about five hours total--into his schedule.

In the pool, Burke, 25, has made steady progress through the U.S. system. A high school All-American, he helped San Clemente finish second in the Southern Section Division 3-A playoffs when he was a senior in 1986.

In four seasons at Long Beach State, Burke scored 206 goals, second on the school’s all-time list. He was a four-time All-Big West Conference selection and a three-time All-American.

While still at Long Beach, he played for the U.S. junior national team that finished fourth at the 1989 World Championships, the best result in the team’s history.

It was valuable experience.

“He did an outstanding job of shutting down some two-meter men who are now playing for other national teams,” said Ricardo Azevedo, who coached the U.S. junior team and is now the assistant coach for the U.S. national team.

After that tournament, Burke and a few teammates were asked to practice with the national team. One, Chris Humbert, played in the 1992 Summer Olympics in Barcelona, but there were too many veterans on the team for Burke to break in.

Then last year, he helped the U.S. team place fourth at the FINA World Cup in Greece. He likely has helped his chances for the 1996 Olympics in Atlanta by improving his swimming enough to to play two-meter man on offense. He’s also developed a good outside shot.

“He’s a very good utility player for us,” Azevedo said.

Now if he could just find a good cut man for that eyelid.

“It’s one of those minor cuts where you could get stitches,” Burke said, “or you can stay awake for 12 hours until it heals.”

Alamo Cup Notes

Ricardo Azevedo, the U.S. team’s assistant coach, said the Alamo Cup field is the tournament’s strongest yet. “We’d like it to be an even tougher tournament,” Azevedo said. “We want the American public to see the type of teams we have to play every day when we go to Europe.” Hungary finished second to Italy at the 1993 FINA World Cup and European Championships. Australia beat the U.S. team for the bronze at the FINA Cup, winning the Australians’ first international water polo medal. Cuba, the 1991 Pan American Games champion, is still dangerous. Canada, Mexico, Japan and the U.S. B team round out the eight-team tournament.

The schedule:

Today

4:15 p.m.--Australia vs. Canada; 5:30--Hungary vs. U.S. B; 6:45--Cuba vs. Japan; 8--U.S. A vs. Mexico.

Friday

8 a.m.--Australia vs. U.S. B; 9:15--Hungary vs. Canada; 10:30--Cuba vs. Mexico. 11:45--U.S. A vs. Japan; 4:15 p.m.--Canada vs. U.S. B; 5:30--Hungary vs. Australia; 6:45--Japan vs. Mexico; 8--U.S. A vs. Cuba.

Saturday

Tournament play starts at 2:30 p.m.; semifinals at 5 and 6:15.

Sunday

Play starts at 10:30 a.m.; third-place match at 1 p.m.; title match at 2:30.