Born in Nelson in 1988, Matthews was educated at Nelson College from 2002 to 2006, representing the school at basketball as well as athletics. In the 2009-2010 season he finished 176th in the National Collegiate Athletic Association championships 10 km cross country and 9th in the National Collegiate Athletic Association championships 1500 m (outdoors).
Auburn University In 2008, Matthews took up an athletics scholarship at Auburn University in Alabama, where he ran cross country and track. He placed 175th at the 2008 National Collegiate Athletic Association championships 10 km cross country, and 38th in the same race at the National Collegiate Athletic Association South Regional meet. Providence College After a year at Auburn, Matthews transferred to Providence College in Rhode Island.
On 10 May 2010 he ran a personal best time of 3:43.95 for the 1500 m at the Swarthmore Last Chance meet.
The following season he came 130th in the National Collegiate Athletic Association 10 km cross country. At the Boston University Valentine invitational on 14 February 2011, Matthews became the 34th New Zealander and second person from Nelson (after Rod Dixon) to run a sub-four-minute mile, recording a time of 3:58.57 indoors.
He graduated from Providence College in 2013. 2014 Leading up to the Games, he trained in the French Pyrenees In his 1500 m heat at Glasgow, Matthews finished fifth in a time of 3:40.33 and progressed to the final as a fastest loser.
In the final he clocked 3:41.84 in finishing ninth at his first major international meet.
The table below lists Matthews" person best times as of 5 August 2014.
In 2006 he won the New Zealand secondary schools 1500 m title. On the track he achieved a personal best of 3:46.79 in finishing fourth in the 1500 m at the War Eagle Invitational meet on 17 April 2009. In the 2011-2012 season, he was 93rd in the National Collegiate Athletic Association 10 km cross country, recorded two sub-four-minute miles (one indoors and one outdoors), and was a member of the Providence team that won the distance medley relay at the Big East championships. Representing Tasman, he won the 2012 New Zealand 1500 m national championship in Auckland, recording a time of 3:54.37 in a slow, tactical race. In his final year at Providence, Matthews improved his personal best for the mile to 3:58.14 on 14 February 2013, won the 1000 m races at the Big East championships and URI Sorlien Invitational meet, and was a member of the winning distance medley relay team at the New England championships. Matthews qualified for the New Zealand team for the in Glasgow by twice meeting the "B" qualifying standard for the 1500 m, first running 3:38.59 on 13 July 2013 at Heusden, Belgium, and then 3:38.20 at the USATF high performance meet in Eagle Rock, California, on 15 May 2014.
